Jim Mallinder felt Northampton were unfortunate to lose 9-5 to Wasps at Adams Park.
Mallinder rues missed opportunity
Northampton director of rugby Jim Mallinder felt hard done by leaving Adams Park empty handed after Sunday's 9-5 defeat to Wasps.
Mallinder claimed his side were denied victory when Ben Foden - who had earlier scored the game's only try - was hauled back by Dominic Waldouck as he pursued a kick near the Wasps line.
"Quite clearly he was going to win that chase," Mallinder said.
"He was flying and he got held back. You would have thought that maybe one of the three officials would have seen it.
"There were a number of calls we think we were very unfortunate not to get and those close calls lose you games.
"Sometimes you hold your hands up and say you were well beaten but today was a match we should have won.
Elusive
"We had a number of opportunities and those little 50-50s cost you matches. We're still after our elusive away win but it will come. I've no doubts we've got a good enough side to win away from home."
Saints fly-half Stephen Myler missed three straight-forward penalty kicks and a conversion which could have won the match.
Mallinder added: "He's very disappointed in himself because he knows if he had kicked those goals we would have won the game but we created enough opportunities and dominated enough to have won it anyway."
Scotland's RBS 6 Nations campaign received a boost with Northampton prop Euan Murray, who missed his country's opening defeats by Wales and France because of a rib injury, proving his fitness for next Saturday's clash with Italy at Murrayfield.
Murray played the full 80 minutes and Mallinder confirmed: "He's come through fine."
Wasps director of rugby Ian McGeechan was impressed by the way his side responded following a difficult week which saw international stars James Haskell, Tom Palmer and Riki Flutey reveal that they will be leaving for France at the end of the season and team captain Raphael Ibanez, the former France hooker, forced into premature retirement by injury.
Character
McGeechan said: "There was a lot of character shown there today to graft that win.
"It was a very physical battle at the breakdown and we had to do a lot of defending which we did well. I was very pleased with the way we finished."
Following a dreadful start to the season, the reigning Premiership champions have won eight of their last 10 matches as they try to make up lost ground to qualify for next season's Heineken Cup.
"All we can do is keep winning and we've done that again," McGeechan continued.
"There will be a lot of pressure games for everybody. We're within striking distance but only if we keep winning."
