NEWPORT Gwent Dragons have suffered another injury blow with the loss of full back Martyn Thomas for the rest of the season.

Thomas suffered a fractured jaw from a high tackle in Friday night's Magners League shocker against Connacht at Rodney Parade.

It means Thomas, who had replaced Welsh international Kevin Morgan in the team, will miss the remaining four league games against the Ospreys twice and Leinster twice, as well as the possible Heineken Cup play-off against the third-placed Italian team.

Wales Under-20 cap Thomas, who can also play on the wing, joined the Dragons from Llanelli Scarlets and made five appearances towards the end of last season and has played in 15 of the 23 games this season.

Coach Paul Turner, who has had to grapple with an under-strength squad and as many as 15 players injured at a time, said: "I've had a look at it and the incident looked like a high tackle, but the citing commissioners are there for things like that."

Turner, who couldn't believe the number of chances the team squandered in the 13-11 defeat by Connacht, still believes that Michael Owen scored a legitimate try which was ruled out by Scottish referee Neil Paterson without even consulting the TV match official.

"I've looked at it time and again and it's a try," he said. "It was game changing because it would have made the score 17-6 with the conversion after 60 minutes. The referee gets away with it, but I don't.

"But even though a couple of Connacht players said about how much football we played and I felt we created enough chances to have won five games, we haven't got that ability to turn the screw."

The Dragons' hopes of an automatic place in next season's Heineken Cup have virtually disappeared, and now they face a fight to stay ahead of Connacht if they are to be involved in the play-off.

The Irish team are five points behind the Dragons, whose losing bonus point on Friday could, ironically, be crucial in the run-in.

Connacht have two games left, both against Welsh teams at home - Cardiff Blues on May 2 and the Ospreys a week later.

The Dragons, though, have four matches remaining, but they are against champions-elect Leinster twice and Anglo-Welsh champions the Ospreys twice.

"It's going to be four tough games, but we are a tight group with plenty of spirit so we will give it our best shot," said Turner.

But if the Dragons are in the play-off they could be in big trouble.

The Italian play-offs are in the last two weeks of May and they want the Heineken Cup qualifier to be on June 6, by which time the Dragons would have around ten players out of contract, apart from any lingering injury problems.

Bristol officials were at the Connacht game, convinced Rodney Parade remains the best option for ground sharing for the next two seasons while the Memorial Stadium is being redeveloped, despite opposition from some fans.

One external issue is holding up an agreement, not from the Dragons or the Bristol end, but the deal is expected to be signed soon.