DRAGONS skipper Jason Forster called on his side to step it up for the rest of the season after going down in disappointing fashion at St Helen's last night.

The Gwent region failed to trouble the scorers as the Ospreys sealed a bonus point victory to take a significant step to the title.

"To be nilled like that is a hard pill to swallow,'' said Forster after the four-try defeat. "We just didn't get out of third gear. We have got a lot of work to do to nail Heineken Cup qualification.''

The Dragons' cause wasn't helped when they lost Percy Montgomery before the game. That meant Sione Tuipulotu went to full-back.

And they could have done with him as the title-chasing Ospreys opened up a 10-0 lead in the first three minutes.

A 45-metre Connor penalty was followed up by a converted try by wing Richard Mustoe.

The Dragons' backline personnel problems didn't get any better when Nathan Brew and Craig Warlow both had to be replaced in the first half by Dan Griffiths and Jon Bryant respectively.

But Griffiths' evening didn't get off to a great start as he missed his opening three penalty shots.

Referee Orlan Trevor dealt the cards just before the interval, sin-binning Dragons No 8 Rhys Oakley and Ospreys prop Andrew Millward.

The Dragons' hopes of getting back into the match were dashed after half-time when the home side scored twice in the opening seven minutes.

First scrum-half Jason Spice was put over for the second try by an inside pass from skipper Barry Williams. Connor missed the conversion but was on target with a penalty to extend the Ospreys' lead to 18-0. The Dragons' evening became all about stopping the Ospreys from gaining a bonus point.

But their cause wasn't helped as they had to replace Gareth Wyatt with Matthew Veater, forcing Jamie Ringer to take up wing duty. And the Ospreys took advantage by scoring an injury time try through full-back Adrian Durston to claim a bonus point.

Ospreys: A Durston; S Terblanche, D Bishop, E Seveali'i, R Mustoe; S Connor, J Spice; D Jones (A Millward 79), B Williams (capt), A Millward (P James 72), A Newman (L Tait 67), L Bateman, J Bater, A Lloyd (N Bonner-Evans 25), S Tandy (R Pugh 69). Scorers: tries: R Mustoe, J Spice (2); pens: Connor; cons: Connor (2)

Dragons: S Tuipolotu; G Wyatt (M Veater 67), N Brew (D Griffiths 16), S Winn, B Breeze; C Warlow (J Bryant 25) G Baber; R Snow (A Black 57), J Richards (G Robinson 74), C Anthony (R Thomas 57), I Gough, P Sidoli (L Chateris 57), J Ringer, R Oakley, J Forster (capt). Referee: Orlan Trevor (Ireland)