A liberal helping of Zac Lomax brilliance and the steady hand of Ben Hunt led the Dragons to a hard-fought 18-14 win over Wests Tigers at WIN Stadium on Thursday night.
The victory was just the fifth of the season for the Dragons and gave them some breathing space over Wests Tigers in the fight to avoid the wooden spoon.
The Dragons fired an early shot when Hunt took the line on from close range but he was denied by strong defence from Isaiah Papali'i.
On the back of a high tackle penalty against Jack de Belin, Wests Tigers marched up field and Junior Tupou disposed of Tyrell Sloan to score wide out to make it 4-0 to the visitors.
The home side hit back in the 17th minute when Talatau Amone went to the line and delivered a sweetly timed flick pass for Sloan to score his seventh try of the season. Lomax's conversion made it 6-4 to the Dragons.
Six minutes later the Dragons had a second when Hunt put the ball on a platter with a sublime chip kick for Lomax to regather and score.
The sin-binning of Sloan in the 33rd minute for holding Daine Laurie down too long in a tackle inside the red zone proved crucial as the Tigers scored almost immediately through Tupou.
Wests Tigers took advantage of the extra man again in the 40th minute when Laurie put Tupou away down the left wing and when he was confronted by the Dragons defence he kicked back inside for Api Koroisau to score. Wakeham converted for a 14-12 lead.
The sides traded sets and mistakes for the opening 24 minutes of the second half before Lomax came up with something special to put the Dragons back in front.
Lomax showed great strength to break free of a couple of defenders before getting a trademark flick pass away for Mikaele Ravalawa to score and the Dragons led 18-14.
A mistake in the play the ball by Tupou with 10 minutes to play handed the Dragons field position and Hunt earned a repeat set with a deft grubber kick but the Tigers held firm in defence to stay in the game.
Tim Sheens' men had a couple of late chances but were unable to convert and the home side hung on to make it six wins in their past eight clashes with Wests Tigers.
The Dragons move to 16 competition points on the back of the victory while Wests Tigers are stuck on 12 points and needing a late surge if they are to avoid back-to-back wooden spoons.