The Newcastle Falcons had failed to win in their last three games and, although they were helped by the return of England's Mathew Tait, it was fellow World Cup squad member Toby Flood who inspired victory.
Tait's last outing was on a rather different scale when he excelled on rugby's biggest stage in the World Cup final against South Africa in Paris last month and his every touch here was greeted with excitement by the crowd.
But it was Flood who produced two bits of magic in either half to set up two tries before winger John Rudd secured victory for Newcastle with seven minutes left.
The Dragons produced a spirited second-half fightback, led by the former Newcastle captain Colin Charvis, who was back on his old stomping ground for the first time since his switch to South Wales last year.
The Wales flanker was in a side which contained nine changes from last weekend's admirable draw against reigning Heineken Cup champions Wasps. USA international Paul Emerick made his first Dragons start of the season after his five-week ban for a high tackle on England's Olly Barkley in the World Cup.
A tense opening exchange was only lifted by the home crowd's noticeable buzz when Tait received the ball. But it was Flood who put the first points on the scoreboard in the 19th minute thanks to a simple penalty in front of the posts.
Flood was also in the thick of the action three minutes later to set up the first try. His superb reverse pass out of the back of the hand deceived the Dragons defence and allowed centre Steve Jones to power over.
Flanker Joe Bearman compounded the visitors' poor start when he received a yellow card for obstruction and in the following phase of play, Brent Wilson extended the home side's lead by going over the line from close range.
Four minutes later, the Dragons were reduced to 13 men as Andrew Hall was sent to the sin bin for killing the ball. However, the visitors were thrown an unlikely lifeline by Falcons' scrum-half Lee Dickson. His long pass was spotted by Martyn Thomas who beat Tait in the sprint to put the Welsh side back in the match.
Enter Flood again. His beautiful cross-kick three minutes into the second period found Ollie Phillips in oceans of space, allowing him to beat the last-ditch challenge of Martyn Thomas to put Newcastle seemingly out of sight.
Flood was replaced after 48 minutes by Tait's younger brother Alex but two tries from the Wales prop Rhys Thomas and another from Andy Williams made it an extremely nail-biting final minutes for the Falcons.
Kingston Park 7,406
NEWCASTLE May; Phillips, M Tait, Jones, Rudd; Flood (A Tait 48), Dickson (Charlton 64); McDonnell (capt) (Golding 52), Thompson (Long 52), D Wilson, Perry (Woods 68), Sorenson, Parling, B Wilson, Winter
Tries Jones, Phillips, B Wilson, Rudd Cons Flood 2, Jones
Pen Flood
NEWPORT-GWENT DRAGONS M Thomas; Emerick, Davies, Maule, Mustoe; A Thomas, A Williams (W Evans 68); Gustafson (Black 60), Daly (Crawford 60), R Thomas, Hall (L Evans 60), Sidoli, Bearman, Charvis (capt), Owen
Tries M Thomas, R Thomas 2, A Williams Cons A Thomas 2
Referee J Jones
