Dowson left to rue Saints' failure to convert chances in defeat at Tigers

The black, green and gold were beaten 24-8 by local rivals Leicester Tigers in a game that proved to be painful in many aspects.

Sam Graham suffered a dislocated knee, while Saints saw the words 'no try' go up on the big screen on five separate occasions as they couldn't make much of their pressure count.

They were also hit by two yellow cards – for Curtis Langdon and Tom Pearson – as they headed home with nothing to show for their efforts.

And Saints boss Dowson said: "It was a frustrating one.

"We created opportunities but didn't convert them and therefore you don't create scoreboard heat on them and they got the upper hand.

"You take solace from lots of different sources: performances of players, parts of our game, but there's always things to reflect on and be better at.

"There were things we did do pretty well and we didn't get some of the reward that could have changed the momentum of the game.

"When you're playing at home and the game is going deep, the scoreboard does have an impact so having that pressure on Leicester wouldn't have allowed them to play so freely.

"If it becomes a tighter game in terms of the score, it begins to become interesting but it looks like a bit of a thumping."

So does Dowson feel the scoreline reflected the match as a whole?

"I think the scoreline always reflects it in some way," he said. "We had opportunity and we didn't convert that pressure.

"We got undone by their defence. We didn't score twice and there were three held up, and that's one of their tactics and things they work on, getting teams over the line and holding them up. They were very effective at that at we didn't convert when we were in those areas and that's what's cost us.

"We gave ourselves opportunity by getting into those spaces, we scrambled and we stuck at it.

"It was a proper intense derby but we didn't put any pressure from a scoreboard point of view because we couldn't get the ball down over the line."

The loss of Graham during the first half was a big blow for Saints.

The No.8 was stretchered off the field but later returned to the dugout on crutches.

"He's clearly very down, in a lot of pain and on a lot of pain relief," Dowson said.

"It's a part of the game, not a nice part of the game.

"He's been so good for us and we want to make sure we look after him and get him back up and running as soon as possible."

Saints were nursing a laundry list of injuries prior to the game, with the likes of Alex Mitchell and Fraser Dingwall ruled out.

But Dowson said: "Every DOR (director of rugby) in the league would say 'are we ever at full strength?'.

"It's about the depth of the squad and trusting those players to come in and do a job.

"So far we've been pleased with those guys who have come in and represented."

When asked whether Saints could get any of their injured men back for Friday's home game against Sale Sharks, Dowson said: "I hope so.

"Obviously the medical room is a revolving door - there's people going into it and people coming out of it all the time so we'll make sure our focus is on getting better and taking some scars from today and moving forward."

Saints gave a second Premiership start to scrum-half Archie McParland in the absence of Mitchell and Tom James, while flanker Henry Pollock came off the bench early on to replace Graham.

"Archie McParland was excellent," Dowson said. "He did a lot of good things and he'll be so much better for that experience.

"Henry Pollock's impact off the bench was outstanding and we're excited about where he can go."