Opposition view: Wilson left to rue Harlequins' failure to convert half-time lead
Harlequins head coach Danny Wilson felt his side were guilty of handing Saints 'simple opportunities' in their 33-29 defeat at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens on Friday night.
Quins were seemingly in control at half-time, leading 22-14 having spent long periods in the home half.
But Saints came out firing after the break, dealing with the discipline issues that had blighted them as they flew into a 33-22 lead.
Quins fought back through a try from Will Porter seven minutes from time, but they couldn't complete the comeback as the black, green and gold bagged a bonus-point Gallagher Premiership win.
“The lead should have been more than eight points at half-time," Wilson said. "We worked really hard against a decent defence, a good side, to score our points and then handed them opportunities straight off the very next kick-off where we didn’t deal with the kick-off or deal with the exit.
“We gave Northampton field position and they obviously took their opportunities.
"We went in and said we are in a good place here in terms of when we have got the ball in their half, I felt we were going really well, but we’ve got to stop handing them some simple opportunities.
“We tried to fix that but then the first 20 minutes (of the second half) and the yellow card killed us because we are then with 14 men against a very good attack and it was just wave after wave. The biggest effect was the drain on our batteries.”