Glasgow 21 - 13 Dragons: Glasgow tame Dragons in Euro opener

• Glasgow's Max Evans causes problems for Matthew Jones, left, and William Harries of a Newport Gwent Dragons side who were strong and willing, but lacked creativity and were unable to repeat their Magners League win over Glasgow Picture: SNS

GLASGOW launched their Heineken Cup campaign with a solid, hard-won victory, but the players left Firhill knowing that it should have been more comfortable than a mere eight points.

Gaining revenge for their Magners League defeat at Newport, Glasgow were too good across the park for a visiting side with strong and quick runners but a distinct lack of creativity. There were good performances from a number of home players: Jon Welsh was the pick of a good front row, Richie Gray was impressive, scrum-half Colin Gregor deservedly earned the man-of-the-match award, Ruaridh Jackson produced his best display of the season yet and Graeme Morrison, DTH van der Merwe and Bernardo Stortoni were strong figures in attack and defence.

It was exciting from the opening minutes, when Van der Merwe exploded down the left touchline and thought he had scored, only to have the 'try' controversially ruled out for being in touch - controversially on account of there being no TV evidence and the assistant referee only flagged after being spoken to by the referee.

Jackson missed his first penalty, from wide on the left, but he was kicking well from hand, while the Dragons, despite a good lineout, struggled to produce a threat.

Glasgow lost lock Tom Ryder to injury after just 16 minutes, to be replaced by Calum Forrester, which pushed impressive flanker Rob Harley into the second row.

Newport scored from their first real attack into Glasgow's 22. Ball was moved swiftly right and left, prop Phillip Price led surging runs, rucks were hit hard and when the ball was put through hands on the left for the second time Adam Hughes, the right wing, squirmed into the left-hand corner, Matthew Jones converting to put Dragons 7-0 up after 19 minutes.

Arambaru almost produced a swift response with an interception, but lost the ball forward, however two penalties for offside in quick succession handed Jackson the chance to reduce the deficit and the fly-half closed the gap to a point with 25 minutes gone. A fine clearance kick by the fly-half was followed by another penalty from over 45 metres to edge Glasgow 9-7 in front eight minutes from half-time.

Stortoni was in his usual stunning form under the high ball, Max Evans was starting to find a little space to stretch his legs and Van der Merwe continued to cause mayhem, and that momentum brought Glasgow's first try. Gregor sold the whole Newport back line and then danced through a gap. He turned to find support from John Barclay and though the captain was smashed in a double-tackle metres from the posts, the ball was shipped quickly right and Graeme Morrison put his head down and drove over the line. Jackson converted.

However, there was time for Glasgow to hand the Dragons an easy three points, failing to properly retain possession and conceding a penalty, which Jones converted for a 16-10 half-time scoreline.

The second half started at a furious pace, and Jones struck a penalty, to cut the hosts' lead to three points with just three minutes gone.

Hughes bravely halted a certain Glasgow try before Evans sparked danger in the Newport 22, escaping twice from tackles and slithering towards the line.

Morrison fluffed the first scoring chance with a knock-on, but after fine tigerish work at the base of the scrum by Gregor, another opportunity reared, Morrison making the initial break, Arambaru following up and then Stortoni exposing Newport's left flank in a swift attack that sent Fergus Thomson in for Glasgow's second try.

Jackson could not add the extras, but at 21-13 and with half an hour left the platform was set for the hosts to go on and close out an opening Heineken Cup victory. But they could not kick on, instead errors inviting Newport to come at them. And they did, running hard and fighting hard to prolong their first real period in possession. Glasgow stood tall, however, hitting tackles with venom and scrapping at the breakdown.

Glasgow sent on Duncan Weir for Jackson and though he fell short with a penalty from around 56 metres with his first act, after Van der Merwe had been taken out in the air, the fly-half was clearly in the mood to wrap this game up. He did not get the chance, not least because referee Jerome Garces lost his bearings entirely in the closing stages, seemingly unable to make a call despite countless penalty infringements stopping Glasgow. It was almost laughable and the boos aimed in the official's dir-ection were deafening by the time he sounded the final whistle, moments after Jones had fallen short with a long-range penalty for Newport.

It was not a complete performance by Glasgow, but it had enough of a finish and guts in defence to account for the Dragons and provide a confident start to the campaign.

Scorers. Glasgow: Tries: Morrison, Thomson. Pens: Jackson 3. Con: Jackson. Newport Gwent Dragons: Try: Hughes. Pens: M Jones 2. Con: M Jones.

Glasgow: B Stortoni; DTH van der Merwe, M Evans, G Morrison, F Aramburu; R Jackson, C Gregor; J Welsh, F Thomson, M Low, T Ryder, R Gray, R Harley, J Barclay (capt), R Vernon. Subs: D Hall, R Grant, E Kalman, A Muldowney, C Forrester, H Pyrgos, D Weir, R Dewey.

Dragons: W Harries; A Hughes, T Cheeseman, A Smith, A Brew; M Jones, W Evans (capt); P Price, S Jones, B Castle, S Morgan, R Sidoli, D Lydiate, R Sowden-Taylor, A Coombs. Subs: L Burns, H Gustafson, N Hall, A Jones, L Evans, J Leadbeater, T Riley, M Evans.