Sunday 21 December 2014 08:53, UK
Newcastle director of rugby Dean Richards was disappointed after his side failed to make the most of the opportunities they created during the 15-7 defeat at Harlequins.
Five penalties from Tim Swiel saved Quins from a surprise Aviva Premiership home defeat at the Stoop as they edged out their struggling opponents.
Richards said: "We broke Quins at ease; we should have scored four or five tries as they created next to nothing.
"We shot ourselves in the foot as we needed to be more patient. We wanted the win today, not just a bonus point - and we didn't even get that."
Falcons No 8 Ally Hogg added: "We beat ourselves, we had numerous chances and they created nothing. We cut them to pieces but little inaccuracies and our lack of ability to hold onto the ball cost us dear."
Quins' director of rugby Conor O'Shea paid tribute to Swiel, who was only called upon on Friday as regular fly-half Nick Evans was ruled out having failed to recover from a hamstring injury.
O'Shea said: "We are very lucky to get him. It will be a great experience for him here over the next four months as he's very talented.
"We always knew it was going to be a tough game but we didn't have our intensity levels or defence right in the first half.
"We were losing more and more players throughout the week but you have to trust your squad and the youngsters will have learnt a lot from today. Matt Hopper and George Lowe were unbelievable in midfield as they brought a huge energy to the game."
Next Saturday Quins face league leaders Northampton and O'Shea added: "We need to step up to a different level next week but we will have a number of our key experienced players back in our line-up.
"However Chris Robshaw won't be back until the Leicester game on January 10 - and Luke will be out for six weeks."
