Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins felt there were positives from his side's performance against Saracens in the Investec Champions Cup on Saturday but felt they made it too easy at times for the Gallagher Premiership side.
The province lost 55-36 in the pool match at the StoneX Stadium, conceding eight tries in the process, although they weighed in with five of their own.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport's Michael Corcoran at full-time, Wilkins felt Connacht's errors essentially served as "freebies" that made their task more difficult.
"Real mixed emotions for myself and the group at the minute to be honest. We're frustrated and disappointed by the scoreline," he said.
"Obviously, I think Saracens scored too many points, that goes without saying. But too many of those we probably gifted to them with some easy errors that gave them either access to the '22 or gave them clear scoring opportunities.
"But we stayed in there, and we played some good rugby and we kept scoring points ourselves.
"So there's a feeling maybe of a bit of a missed opportunity there. We earned the right to play but at the same time, we were too leaky in terms of giving them opportunities."
Wilkins also credited his side for not letting their heads drop - particularly coming into the game off the back of a poor performance against Bordeaux-Begles - as they scored three converted tries in the final 20 minutes to close the deficit.
"I'm unbelievably proud of that because there were a few things that were called into question after that Bordeaux performance and rightly so in terms of what we delivered that weekend.
"But I think the lads showed today how much it means to them, this competition and playing for this club.
"It doesn't matter what happens in terms of the scoreboard. It's how you respond to that. Guys will make errors, that's life, but it's how you bounce back and collectively go at it again. I thought we saw bags of that tonight and that has to be commended."
Connacht captain Jack Carty made his 200th appearance for the province and echoed his head coach's view about harbouring mixed emotions.
"When any player probably hits a milestone, they're very much trying to put it to the back of their mind. It's something that they think about when they finish up," he said.
"In terms of the performance, it's a strange one. Many teams don't come here and get anything. The fact we did that, scored five tries but then shipped a lot of points, I think there's elements of that you'd be pleased with but if you give a team like Saracens so much access to your '22 and entries, there's only so much pressure you can withstand from a team like that."
Watch Leinster v Sale Sharks in the Champions Cup on Saturday from 4.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on www.rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
Follow a live blog on Exeter v Munster in the Champions Cup on Sunday from 1pm on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to radio commentary on Saturday on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra (first half) and RTÉ Radio 1 (second half).
