NEWPORT Gwent Dragons can't afford any more slip-ups if this season's Heineken Cup campaign is not to go the way of others and end in failure.

Friday night's effort against Gloucester at a highly charged Kingsholm had a familiar ring in that it was another hard luck story with yet more gallantry, but the outcome was another defeat.

Sure, they showed more evidence of their improvement this season and provided ample proof of the quality of rugby they are are playing, scoring two tries to one, both of them in a pretty convincing first half performance.

That took some doing at one of English rugby's strongholds as a sizeable travelling contingent of Dragons fans silenced The Shed for long periods.

So much for the good, but then came the bad as the Dragons appeared to try to defend their 14-7 interval lead which was always going to be a hazardous business.

Instead of seizing the moment and ramming home their advantage, the Dragons for some inexplicable reason allowed Gloucester to get back into the game and ultimately take the spoils as errors began to litter their game.

And the by now obligatory injuries affected their performance, with yet more props joining the list. There are now no fewer than four out of action, with Ali McKenzie and Nigel Hall joining Ben Castle and Gethin Robinson on the sidelines.

Incredibly, that means Peter Bracken suddenly finds himself as the sole tight head available less than a week after his rugby world was turned upside down, answering an SOS to join the Dragons after playing amateur rugby for Irish side Galwegians this season.

The Dragons management are once again beavering through the rules which have changed in an attempt to end the abuses which led to front row forwards basically trooping on and off the field willy- nilly.

If the required number of props, for example, are used up and passive scrums are ordered the side doing that must go down to 14 men - and the Dragons are in peril of being in that situation with only one fit tight head available.

Be that as it may, they still have to get back on track on Friday night, and they would do well to forget their league display against Glasgow last month when they gained a bonus point victory in their most convincing performance of the season so far. If they go in believing they just have to turn up and a repeat performance will be on the cards they will make a massive mistake, for since that Rodney Parade setback the Scottish team have stuck 20 points on Cardiff Blues away and performed pretty well against Biarritz in their Heineken Cup opener.

The players insist it wasn't a lack of belief which prevented them from closing the game out against Gloucester, and they certainly did show a wider audience that their billing as a possible surprise package this tournament was justified.

But it also has to be remembered that Gloucester were without a number of leading players, England pair Mike Tindall and Olly Morgan among the injured while Olivier Azam and Adam Eustace were both suspended.

But the Dragons restricted their hosts to just one try, and that involved a suspiciously forward pass, like the one against Leinster in Dublin, so that Gloucester were left to rely on the left boot of ex-Cardiff Blues outside half Nicky Robinson for their victory as he kicked 14 points.

But for the life of me I can't see why some are still pushing him for a Wales place, for he is still weak on his right foot and his defence is suspect as he showed when allowing opposite number James Arlidge to drive straight through him for a try. Stephen Jones, James Hook and the rapidly emerging Dan Biggar are ahead of Robinson in the Welsh pecking order in my opinion.

Round one of the Heineken threw up its usual raft of surprises, none more so than Perpignan going down to Treviso in Italy. And who would have believed Irish giants Leinster and Munster would both go down?

And though it's very early days yet given that the final is being held in France this year how about a little bet on the final next May being between Toulouse and Stade Francais?

Meanwhile, little happened to alter my opinion that Wales won't get a team through to the knock-out stages.

Even though Biarritz are an infuriatingly inconsistent team in Europe considering the number of French stars they have in their ranks I can't see the Dragons getting the better of them on the shores of the Atlantic in December.

The Blues are now suffering similar injury problems, especially at lock and they continue to have their problems at half back; the Scarlets, while beating Brive well enough, are in the same group as London Irish and Leinster - enough said.

And the Ospreys couldn't get the better of a Leicester team shorn of half their regulars, throwing away a far bigger lead than the Dragons had while showing alarming problems in the scrums.

But there remains plenty of incentive on the European front for apart from the two best placed runners-up going into the Heineken Cup quarter-finals, the next three will go straight into the last eight of the Challenge Cup. So all is by no means lost.