Western Force coach Simon Cron rued missed opportunities after the side went down 24-14 to the Chiefs in Saturday's Swyftx Super Rugby Pacific Round 7 clash at HBF Park.
Cron said that despite being in the game for long periods they had not been clinical enough in big moments and could have handled momentum shifts better.
A gritty Force were denied their first bonus point of the year when Damian McKenzie slotted a penalty in the penultimate minute.
The Force were just seven points down at the break with a Max Burey try converted by Ben Donaldson.
Captain Luke Jacobson and fly-half Josh Jacomb crossed for the visitors with McKenzie converting both.
After the break Force captain Jeremy Williams brought his side level but they were punished for poor discipline.
Reserve front-rower Samisoni Taukei'ahou put the Chiefs ahead before McKenzie put them out of bonus point reach.
Cron had praise for the side's fight but said they needed to take opportunities when presented.
"There's been a few games like that where boys fight hard, work hard, make a lot of tackles," he said.
"We've just got to be able to take those opportunities that we had, that we created.
"There's big moments in games that will dictate outcome, silly penalties, momentum shifts. We've got to handle those.
"We've got to take those opportunities and get those big moments right and that's what we'll reflect on.
"We had every opportunity. We've just got to be clinical in small moments."
He said there were key elements that needed to be worked on.
"Little parts of our games that we need to keep working on as individuals," he said.
"In terms of the boys getting off the ground and defending for long blocks, working their arse off, I can't fault them. Our boys will never stop.
"We've played Brumbies, Chiefs, Blues, Hurricanes who are all sitting right up there. Four of the best I would reckon.
"Punch for punch we were in those fights but we need to make sure we nail those little moments in our game to get those points."
Captain Jeremy Wiliams said they had worked hard on not repeating previous drop-offs after the break.
"Tonight we came out energetic, got advantage, kept playing on top," Williams said.
"We were in the fight there for a long period of time. We had some great defensive efforts, defending for long passages of play."
But he also said ill-discipline had let them down.
"It's crucial not to give away penalties when you are down by seven points and you've got time pressure as well," he said.
"We are just chasing our tails there. We review it really hard, take the learnings out of the game that we need to take out but also commend the stuff we are doing really well and double down on that.
"It doesn't take much to motivate our group. It hasn't been the right start to the year, but you can't fault the effort.
"We've been in all the games, just need to tweak a few little things and it will come."
The Force are next in action away to the Queensland Reds on Saturday from 4:35pm WST live on Stan Sport.
