Director of rugby Steve Diamond said his side’s lack of clinical finishing cost them a share of the points during Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership trip to Harlequins.

Speaking after Newcastle’s 28-14 reverse at the Twickenham Stoop, the Falcons boss said: “We’ve got to look at the opportunities we missed, and there were multiple occasions where we had four-on-ones and put the ball on the deck.

“That’s nothing to do with the referee or the opposition, it’s something within our own control and it’s just a little bit of stagefright with wanting to get the bonus point at the end. We also kicked the ball away a few times in the last couple of minutes when we should have kept it in hand, but they’ll learn from it.”

Assessing the overall performance, Diamond said: “We did really well to contain them, and at one stage it could have been a cricket score.

“That’s the growth of the team, we managed to draw them in and become competitive again, and Quins a class team.

“They had a top international class ten in Marcus Smith conducting everything, and a great carrier in Chandler Cunningham-South getting them over the gain line.

“They’re a top side, but from our own point view we were better than we have been over the last two years, and we’re improving all the time.

“Some of our detail let us down, and it doesn’t help when your starting fly-half goes down in the warm-up just before kick-off. I thought Ethan Grayson came in for his debut and gave it a good shot, and the spirit and fitness levels in the squad are excellent.

“We’ll keep those positive aspects, we’ll work on the rest and everyone is desperate to get that win which has been eluding us for so long.”

Hosting Leicester Tigers on Saturday evening, Diamond said: “It was a reasonable performance which sets us up for a big home game against Leicester on Saturday.

“I thought we put in some good hits in defence, Luke Pearce had a good game as referee, like he always does, and the fine margins are why Harlequins are pushing for top four and we’re bumbling around at the bottom.

“If we have belief and do the simple things well we’ll be much more competitive, and I know we’ll get there.”