John Mulvihill admits Cardiff Blues were their own worst enemy as they were edged out in a 10-try thriller against Glasgow Warriors.
The Blues racked up five tries thanks to Aled Summerhill (three), Owen Lane and Garyn Smith and dominated large periods of the Arms Park encounter but it was not enough against the clinical Scots.
Wales’ Capital Region were made to pay after conceding two soft, quick-fire tries to undo their flying start.
They trailed 24-14 at the interval but battled back to within two points of the visitors thanks to Lane’s fifth try in four matches and the boot of Jarrod Evans.
But once again Glasgow displayed their devastating clinical edge to pull away before Summerhill and Smith crossed in the dramatic and frantic closing stages.
Mulvihill said: “We were probably our own worst enemy, three of their tries came from when we were in possession of the ball - start-up plays at the scrum, lineout or breakdown.
“They are a good team and they attacked our breakdown a bit tonight. Defensively we were pretty poor in the first half, the collision dominance was pretty low, and the boys got some harsh words at half-time.
“We came out and played pretty well in the second-half but we need to be clinical. There are so many fine margins in the game and we were just on the wrong side of them.
“I don’t know if we deserved to win because of what happened in the first-half but we certainly gave it our best to be on the right end of the scoreboard in the second-half and it was just a bit too far to climb.”
Despite falling to defeat, the Blues claimed two losing bonus-points, which could prove to be crucial as the race for the play-offs and European qualification continues.
They played an entertaining brand of rugby in front of the enthralled Arms Park faithful, which pleased Mulvihill, who remains acutely aware that all is to play for with Edinburgh up next.
He added: “I just hope that every time we play here the crowd enjoy the rugby we try to play.
“You have to marvel at some of our skills and the young kids coming through like Jarrod Evans, Harri Millard, Owen Lane and Aled Summerhill. There are some really good backs that we are developing and to see them playing at this level is awesome for our club and region.
“Jarrod was outstanding. He came off the back of having a really heavy week training with us and the WRU, he came in pretty tired but he just loves it and gives it 100 for 80 minutes. “He’s a really good attacking player, really good defensively and his kicking is improving all the time. He is becoming the complete package.
“Next week Glasgow play Connacht and we play Edinburgh so but it’s too hard looking at the tables because we all play each other in the next few weeks.
“We just have to concentrate on winning and we set ourselves a 10-point target for these three games, we got two there and if we can get two wins now then we’re heading in the right direction.”
Cardiff Blues return to the Arms Park when they face Southern Kings on Saturday, March 2. Tickets are available now by calling 029 20 302030 or clicking here.