Dowson left to rue game that got away as Saints are beaten by Harlequins

Dowson's side dominated for long period, but they could only take two points from a thrilling encounter as Quins proved ruthless and Saints missed a huge amount of chances.

There were scores for Lewis Ludlam, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank and Tom James, but Quins eventually held out in the final couple of minutes to secure a bonus-point success.

It means Saints have lost three of their four Gallagher Premiership games this season.

And boss Dowson said: "It was certainly a game we could have won.

"We started poorly and we offered up a 14-0 advantage by doing things we haven't trained and practiced so the coaches have to look at how we be better coming out of the gates.

"From then on, we created so many opportunities but we didn't convert them.

"We had opportunities from maul, we had opportunities from five metres out in our shape and we didn't put them away and score enough points.

"We didn't look after the ball. You talk about that age age-group, you talk about that at Casuals and ONs, but we didn't look after the ball well enough and we were trying to do things before we'd earned the right to do them.

"We've seen over the past couple of weeks that there are a number of comebacks because sides can get on a run and get momentum quickly. Quins did it last week at Exeter.

"We've got to be in a better situation where we have a more consistent or sensible approach to chasing games.

"There's not a huge amount wrong with our game but we've got to make sure we're better at it and we don't switch off and give points away."

Saints had been given a tough time in the scrum in their defeat to Leicester Tigers eight days earlier but, aside from one early penalty concession, they more than matched Quins in that area.

"I was very frustrated because I said to the lads 'you've proved you can do it'," Dowson said.

"The first scrum was an anomaly, a warm-up scrum, we get penalised, they go to the corner and score.

"Every other scrum, put this on the record, Manny Iyogun was brilliant and he has been in the past couple of weeks.

"He's been playing 80 minutes, standing up and it's Saints first. He's been excellent.

"We didn't get penalised at any other scrum and that was a decent front row we were up against, so we know we can do it. 'Why are we not doing it more consistently?' - that's the question the coaches ask themselves, and we will do.

"We want to get better so we're not going to write anything off.

"We want to improve all the time and give the players the best chance to get better.

"We'll make sure we're better next time."