Turner feels sorry for supporters

Turner's men fell to a 42-13 defeat at the Cardiff City Stadium despite leading 13-3 at the half-time break.

And the Dragons boss was quick to praise the loyal following and apologize for the manner of the second-half collapse.

"I was proud of the support we had out there, you could hear them in abundance," said Turner, after the Dragons dropped to sixth place in the Magners League standings.

"I was desperately sorry for those guys.

"At times in the first half I was proud of our boys and the way they muscled up, making the Blues look pretty indifferent, but it's all about 80 minutes and you can't fall off tackles like we did."

Turner made no excuses for the way in which his side conceded 39 unanswered points in the final 40 minutes of a game they had looked like winning for so much of the first period.

Fresh from signing a new two-year contract extension at Rodney Parade, Turner had initially seen his men continue the form that left them in a play-off position prior to their 10th Magners League fixture of the season.

But while Turner had hoped the Dragons would push on and claim local bragging rights with their sixth win of the campaign, he was instead forced to watch his side embarrassed by a five-try second-half onslaught.

"I am just shell-shocked," added Turner.

"We were pretty pleased to go into half-time 13-3 up. We were making Blues panic in some situations, although we were hanging on in certain facets.

"As coaches we were very frustrated to see us out-muscled up front by the Blues. We should probably have been further ahead at half-time so, to fall away like we did, was disappointing."

"Certain players didn't perform in the second half, though you've got to look at the strength of the Blues squad coming off the bench - their players were nearly all internationals.

"It's just coming to terms with how we conceded points. We are not that bad a side."