Northampton boss Jim Mallinder admitted his side deserved nothing after crashing to a 13-6 defeat at Harlequins.
Saints boss left to rue 'bad day at the office'.
Northampton rugby director Jim Mallinder admitted his side deserved nothing after crashing to a 13-6 defeat at Harlequins.
Mallinder was left to rue a 'bad day at the office' after a Mike Brown try and eight points from the boot of fly-half Nick Evans handed Quins victory.
Title-chasing Northampton had arrived at The Stoop having won six Guinness Premiership games in a row, while Harlequins were recovering from a dreadful 46-6 hammering at Gloucester, their third consecutive league defeat.
The expected away win did not materialise though, and Mallinder said: "We didn't turn up and we played badly.
"We got out-muscled and simply did not deserve to win. We had penalties that could have changed the scoreline, but missed four of them. I am disappointed, we all are.
"We had a bad day at the office, but we'll go away and work hard this week to get back to doing the things we do well.
"Quins get in your face and work at stopping you playing your game. We like to get off the front foot and play our game, but we were on the back foot for almost the entire first half when our defence stood up well.
Attitude
"We didn't have our England boys for our main training day, but that is no excuse for that performance."
Harlequins head coach John Kingston was less than impressed by the 16-8 penalty count against his team, most of them awarded during a frenetic finale.
He said: "That's an awfully big margin, but we stood strong and we deserved to come away with the points."
The penalties aside, Kingston was thrilled with how the match went and backed his side to build on the result.
He said: "We want to play good rugby and we go out to show how we can play. But we have had a lot of injuries this season. That's not just about us, we all have to overcome injury problems, but we've certainly had our share.
"The intensity of the performance by the lads was outstanding and the attitude in our camp is very, very good. I can see us going forward steadily.
"I saw the Sale v Leeds result on Friday night, but I look on that as a positive, as a result that prevents Sale from pulling away from us as we fight to climb the table.
"It is not for us to suggest who will finish bottom of the Guinness Premiership, but it won't be Quins.
"If we can carry on coping while our lads are away on international duty, I believe we will kick on during the last six or seven league games."
