Johan Ackermann refused to blame Gloucester's defeat at Harlequins on Billy Twelvetrees' late missed penalty as his side slipped to their fifth loss in a row in all competitions.

Gloucester outscored their opponents three tries to two thanks to Ollie Thorley's first-half double and Ben Morgan's rampaging second-half effort.

But ill-discipline meant they still trailed their hosts 20-19 with time running out before they were awarded a kickable penalty to restore their lead in a topsy-turvy encounter.

Twelvetrees, on as a second-half replacement, stepped up with the kicking tee but pushed his effort wide and Quins survived, sealing the 23-19 win with Marcus Smith's third penalty of the night.

Ackermann was in no mood to single out his centre, however, blaming the defeat on a number of other factors.

"It was gusty out there and it's always a bit of pressure when the crowd get on your back as well," he said. "(Twelvetrees) will be disappointed with it, but we can't put that as the reason we lost the game, it's just one of those things.

"It is frustrating and disappointing, I felt there was more in the game than just the last few opportunities we missed.

"There's a lot of ifs and buts, but obviously we weren't good enough on the night and credit to Harlequins.

"I don't think we are far off, but we obviously need to be better if we want to compete because the quality of the teams is just so that, if you are off your game and you make too many mistakes like we did tonight with our discipline, you are going to struggle."