Ian McGeechan pulled no punches in criticising his side's performance after Wasps went down 24-20 to Northampton.
Defending champs have "mountain to climb" according to boss
Director of rugby Ian McGeechan pulled no punches in criticising his side's performance after Sean Lamont's second-half try condemned Wasps to three successive Guinness Premiership defeats.
Two mistakes by full-back Josh Lewsey enabled Northampton to finish the first half level at 14-14 before the home team upped the ante after the interval and ran out 24-20 winners.
The Londoners, who are traditionally slow starters, have now lost their opening three games of the season and the two losing bonus points they have to show for their efforts were of scant consolation to Lions boss McGeechan.
"Obviously it was one we wanted to win and we came here with that intention," he said.
"Probably with out execution in the second half we were trying to play a bit too much rugby.
"Northampton got the ball in the right places and we didn't do it as well or as often.
Astute
"It's disappointing for us but we'll just keep our heads down and keep working. Last week I was annoyed because it was unacceptable to lose that game when we had won it.
"Today we didn't get ourselves into a strong enough position in the second half, some of our decision making at the moment isn't as astute as it should be.
"You give seven points away and then the opposition have got the fillip that they want.
"We played good rugby to get it back but we're giving ourselves mountain to climb when we've no need to sometimes."
And Saints boss Jim Mallinder believes his side's victory was based on dragging Wasps into a physical dogfight.
Compete
He said: "It's satisfying to win - you've got to look at yourselves and look at your performances.
"It wasn't the complete performance but I think we did enough to get a win.
"We made the ideal start but Wasps are a good team and they dug in there and they made it awkward for us.
"It's a physical battle against Wasps. You've got to beat them physically and you've got to compete with them and come out on top in that area.
"I think penalties are always going to be given away with the new interpretations.
"We went three points down at one stage but we didn't force things, we came back and scored that great try from Sean Lamont which was really encouraging."
