Matt Toomua says a lack of possession ultimately cost the side an away win over Bath at The Rec in Round 11 of this season's Gallagher Premiership.
Speaking at full time, the Tigers centre praised the brave effort in defence against the home side but admitted that being starved of the ball in attack was the deciding factor in the final fixture of 2018.
"We just couldn't get possession, with less than 30% of it in the first half and you can't win like that despite defending really well," he said.
"They put a lot of pressure on us and with 70% of the ball it was going to come through for them eventually."
The Australia international was complimentary of the positive start, including a try just two minutes in from Jonny May, after a string of slow openings in recent weeks.
"We started really, really well which has been a focus for us over the last few weeks, so that was pleasing," said Toomua.
The 28 year old also admitted that the squad was forced in to playing off the cuff rugby, away from the original plan, when chasing the game in the second half but says a losing bonus point helps keep the Tigers in the mix for a top four spot on a very congested Premiership table.
"In the second half we had to force our hand, being behind and hence why we opted to tap and go and offload a little bit more than we would have liked, but we had to give ourselves a chance to win it," Toomua said.
To come away with a losing bonus point was pleasing, especially with the way our set piece functioned out there, and so that's a positive to take for us and with that losing bonus point, we're not far off and we're definitely improving week to week.
Tigers head coach Geordan Murphy shared his disappointment with two contentious tries awarded to the home side in the first half, which Toomua agreed were "not ideal" but, like his boss, said they weren't the reason for defeat and wouldn't lay blame on the decisions.
"I didn't see much of them out there to be honest," he said.
"It's hard to consider yourselves hard done by, you just have to get on with it ... yes, it's not ideal but it's not why we lost."
Hundreds of Leicester supporters made the journey south west for the clash with the long-time rivals and Toomua says the side consider themselves "lucky" to have such a strong fan base.
"We always have such good support, home and away, we're very lucky."
