Director of Rugby Mike Ruddock admitted that two fatal errors had proved costly as Worcester Warriors lost out 37-20 to Sale Sharks at Sixways Stadium.
Warriors produced a spirited show on home soil with Chris Latham and Marcel Garvey both scoring tries.
But ruthless Sale grabbed a bonus point win with four tries and Ruddock admitted his side had been guilty of making too many mistakes.
“We gifted them two tries really, other than that I thought we were ultra competitive and our shape in attack and defence was pretty impressive and we played some good rugby at times,” he said.
“A couple of moments of madness cost us. Missing Chris Latham was also a big factor after he went off.
“Sale are a fine side and have some great players, they are a dangerous team if you make mistakes and we made a few today.
“The biggest thing of all, what we are kicking ourselves about, is we made two fatal errors and they scored from them. We had to work hard for our tries but we gifted them two.
“Pat Sanderson’s decision to kick off from the halfway line, he has admitted that himself and apologised to the boys at half time that it wasn’t a great call for the team with a man down.
“Also Joe Carlisle’s interception try, two unfortunate situations which put pressure on us. Other than that was had an edge to our game and we enjoyed good territory.”
Ruddock admitted he had been pleased with the shape of his side and also praised the progress of young fly half Joe Carlisle.
“I thought Joe did really well and stepped up to the mark, he looked composed and confident,” he said.
“His pass that put Latham in for the try in the first couple of minutes was fantastic and showed the quality that he has got.
“His defence was good and he is guilty of a bad decision which obviously created a difficulty for us with that intercept try.
“But he is the first to put his hand up in the changing room and he has come to speak to me to apologise. He knows he made a mistake but overall I thought he did really well.
“I spoke to him afterwards and feel he is definitely someone who can play at this level and he has learnt a lot from that game. He is keen to get back on the horse and put that learning into play if we select him for the next game. He has taken a lot out of the game.
Boss Ruddock was also delighted to see Garvey mark his comeback game with a try and a number of pace packed runs.
“It was great to see Marcel back for us,” he added. “I thought he looked really sharp and once or twice he got down the wing and I thought he looked incredibly quick and dangerous every time he got the ball.
“There was once in second half when he cut in field when I thought he might go all the way.
“It was good to see him back on the scoreboard. He is a great young player with a big future ahead of him if he can stay injury free.
“The injury he had was career threatening at one stage so to see him back and looking hungry was great to see.”