14-men Dragons failed to sign off at Rodney Parade for the season with a win as Sam Davies missed two late drop-goals in a narrow defeat to Connacht.
Tries from Aaron Wainwright and Jared Rosser, as well as the boot of Will Reed gave them hope despite losing second-row Matthew Screech to a red card in the first-half. But it wasn't to be, as they failed to convert a number of chances late on in the contest.
Having not won in the United Rugby Championship since October, their final home clash of the fixture - as bizarre as that seems coming in early March - would have been one that Dai Flanagan's men had circled in the calendar to target.
Former rugby player and darts world champion Gerwyn Price had been into camp in the week to train with the Gwent side, while they had also been boosted by the release of Wales Six Nations squad members Leon Brown, Bradley Roberts and Aaron Wainwright.
All three were thrown into a pack consisting entirely of Wales internationals, providing a solid base for Flanagan's side in their hunt for just their fourth league win of the season.
It was the visitors who took the lead - with David Hawkshaw, a late replacement for Jack Carty before kick-off, opening the scoring from the tee after nine minutes.
However, it would be the Dragons who could get over for the first try. Just minutes after Connacht's penalty, one of the Dragons' returning Wales stars would cross the whitewash.
Another Wales squad member, hooker Roberts, carried well before getting the ball to Ashton Hewitt - who raced away into the Connacht 22 before being dragged down. However, the ball was flung out to Wainwright to score.
The lead wouldn't last too long, with the Galway side forging ahead on 21 minutes after blindside Cian Prendergast ran a hard line onto a tip-on pass, allowing him to canter away from the covering defence and reach out to touch down.
The boot of Dragons fly-half Reed levelled the scores, before their hopes of victory took a hefty blow. Just after the half-hour mark, they lost two men simultaneously.
Centre Max Clark was sent to the sin-bin after killing a Connacht attack near his own line. However, worse was to follow as the TMO picked up a high shot from lock Matthew Screech on Conor Oliver, with the second-row receiving a red card that few could complain about.
Facing the next 10 minutes down to 13 men, then the following 40 or so down to 14, the challenge suddenly got a lot tougher. Connacht No. 8 Paul Boyle looked to have immediately powered over from the resultant scrum, only for the TMO to show he was held up.
Having survived that, the Dragons managed to keep the scores level until the break despite the two-man disadvantage.
Connacht started the second-half on the attack, quickly finding themselves in the Dragons' 22 and probing for a way through. However, one long pass saw Dragons wing Rosser take a chance - picking it off and racing the length of the pitch to score.
Minutes later, Reed extended the lead to 10 points after Ross Moriarty was hit high.
Back came Connacht, though. With centre Clark packing down on the flank, the Dragons were helpless as the men in green pushed them off their own scrum feed right on their try-line. From there, replacement Jarrad Butler was able to pick up and score.
Just after the hour mark, Connacht moved ahead again, powering over from a driving lineout with Caolin Blade at the back to score. That score moved them two points ahead.
From there, the Dragons had chances. Replacement fly-half Davies pushed a penalty wide of the uprights moments later.
Soon after, the playing numbers were levelled out as Connacht wing Shayne Bolton was sin-binned for poleaxing Angus O'Brien with a tackle in the air as he made no effort to compete.
O'Brien brushed off the incident, landing a superb 50:22 minutes later that handed the home side prime attacking position. From the lineout, O'Brien nearly got over on the one touchline, before Hewitt was held up over the line as they worked it back the other way.
There might have been further opportunity for Connacht's numbers to be reduced. Heading into the last 10 minutes, Harrison Keddie complained that Butler's hands were in the area of his eyes during a breakdown turnover.
Despite the footage appearing to confirm that, the TMO opted not to take anything further on that front - although the citing commissioner may have a different view in the coming days.
The Dragons kept pushing for a score that would win it. With four minutes left, a snap drop-goal from Davies agonisingly hit the uprights.
Minutes later, he'd try again - but the attempt was rushed and the effort under pressure, that would serve as the Dragons' last shot at victory, sailed comfortably wide of the sticks.
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