Paul Turner was left "fuming" after the Newport-Gwent Dragons' defeat at home to Gloucester.
Gloucester and Newport left with plenty to ponder
Head coach Paul Turner was left "fuming" after the Newport-Gwent Dragons' late defeat at home to Gloucester on Friday night.
The Dragons had led 11-6 with minutes remaining in the EDF Energy Cup dead rubber at Rodney Parade.
But Wales international number eight Gareth Delve took the teams level in the final throes of the match, and Scotland's Chris Paterson kicked the pressure conversion to secure a 13-11 victory for the visitors.
Having come so close to beating the Guinness Premiership leaders, Turner could not hide his disappointment at the final whistle.
Dismay
Turner said: "We just didn't have the key players in key positions to close out the last two minutes.
"Given the conditions, it was a magnificent performance - but we have come up short because we have made three glaring errors in the end.
"We tried to play when Gloucester were about to get on the bus to go home. We have not played rugby all night and we decided we wanted to play in that last two minutes.
"All the tries tonight have come from kick-and-rush - and coming into the last few minutes, we had won the game. I'm absolutely fuming."
Injuries
The result is Gloucester's second successive late victory, after their 27-25 win at home to Harlequins at the weekend, but head coach Dean Ryan was left concerned by injuries to captain Marco Bortolami and flanker Andy Hazell.
"The situation with Andy is he has a sore knee, and Marco has a calf strain," he added.
"Given the conditions, we were pleased to win - but the only disappointment is we lost two key players."
Both sides are in Heineken Cup action next as Gloucester take on Bourgoin and the Dragons face Benetton Treviso.