EDINBURGH ended a dismal run of defeats in dramatic style last night, fighting back from an apparently hopeless position to win in stoppage time thanks to a Grant Gilchrist try.

Seventeen points down inside the last 10 minutes, they looked doomed to a 10th successive loss in all competitions - a result that would have seen them leapfrogged by the Dragons. Instead, they claimed three late tries, with Blair Kinghorn and Damien Hoyland touching down before Gilchrist’s last-gasp winner, in a show of significant character as well as considerable ability.

“It’s nice to get a close one to go our way,” interim coach Duncan Hodge said after his last home game at the helm. “It was a microcosm of the last two or three months, to be honest. As soon as we score, we start to produce some great stuff. The frustrating thing is that we just need more of the good stuff.”

Jason Tovey, celebrating his 28th birthday, opened the scoring against his old club with a ninth-minute penalty, and the lead was just reward for an enterprising start. The Dragons had already lost 10 games in all competitions before this encounter, and their lack of self-confidence was evident in the number of unforced mistakes they made when in good position.

That has been one of Edinburgh’s biggest problems over the past couple of months, but on this occasion they seemed to take heart from the nervousness of their opponents. They did not, however, take advantage of some good spells of possession in the rest of the half, and errors began to creep into their game towards half-time, notably an aerial collision between Tovey and Hoyland as they went for the same ball.

A minute after that mishap, the Welsh club at last put together a decent move, which ended with Pat Howard scoring in the left corner and Angus O’Brien adding the conversion. O’Brien added a penalty in the last minute before the break to make it 10-3, then nearly 10 minutes into the second half, full-back Carl Meyer squeezed in at the left corner for their second try. O’Brien, having a fine evening with the boot, again converted.

Edinburgh were awarded a penalty in front of the posts soon after that score, but they kicked to the corner and eventually fumbled as they drove forward.

Hooker George Turner, making his first start three years after his debut off the bench at the behest of incoming coach Richard Cockerill, was replaced by Ross Ford as the match entered its final quarter. Blair Kinghorn also came off the bench as Hodge looked for a recovery, and with quarter of an hour to play the replacement full-back thought he had got his team back into the game when he touched down on the left. But the move was referred to the Television Match Official for an offence in the build-up, the score was chalked off, and Allan Dell was yellow-carded for a no-arms tackle. O’Brien rubbed salt into the wounds with a second penalty, but when Dragons scrum-half Charlie Davies was also sinbinned, Edinburgh at last saw a glimmer of hope.

With eight minutes to play Kinghorn again touched down, and this time it counted. Tovey’s conversion made it 20-10, and, with John Hardie having joined the reinforcements in his first match back from injury, Edinburgh went all out for a grandstand finish.

With three minutes to go, Hoyland came off his wing to score from a Tovey pass. The stand-off converted to make it a three-point game, and there were still 100 seconds to play, Right on stoppage time, Edinburgh were awarded a penalty in stoppage time. They ran it the length of the field, and when Nic Cudd became the second Dragon in the bin for handling in the ruck, they had a penalty five metres from the line. An easy kick would have earned a draw, but Edinburgh had the courage to go for the win. They got it, too, when Gilchrist barged over off first-phase possession, and Tovey put the icing on the cake with another conversion.

Scorers: Edinburgh: Tries: Kinghorn, Hoyland, Gilchrist. Cons: Tovey 3. Pen: Tovey.

Dragons: Tries: Howard, Meyer. Cons: O’Brien 2. Pens: O’Brien 2.

Edinburgh: G Bryce; D Hoyland, C Dean, J Rasolea (B Kinghorn 61), R Scholes; J Tovey, N Fowles (S Hidalgo-Clyne 50); A Dell (J Hardie 75), G Turner (R Ford 55), S Berghan, G Gilchrist, B Toolis, V Mata (M McCallum 68), H Watson, C du Preez. Unused substitutes: K Bryce, F McKenzie, J Hardie.

Dragons: C Meyer; A Hughes, S Beard, J Dixon, P Howard; A O’Brien, C Davies; T Davies, T Rhys Thomas (R Buckley 66), B Harris (C Mitchell 66), M Screech (R Landman 66), C Hill, L Evans (H Keddie 70), N Cudd, O Griffiths. Unused substitutes: P Price, O Leonard, G Rhys Jones, T Prydie.

Referee: D Jones (Wales). Attendance: 3498.