Glasgow Warriors boss Sean Lineen admitted he was disappointed with his players' work rate after they fell to a 19-6 defeat at Gloucester.
Lineen had praised Glasgow's efforts following a crushing 33-11 win over the same opposition last time out but the New Zealander could find no such encouragement on Sunday afternoon.
Having led 6-0 at half-time at Kingsholm, Glasgow fell off the pace in the second period, conceding 19 unanswered points as Gloucester eased home.
Glasgow's hopes of quarter-final qualification are now all but over and Lineen didn't mince his words when assessing the overall performance of his side.
"We didn't turn up in the second half," said Lineen.
"The first half was pretty good but the guys just didn't work hard enough in the second half and Gloucester didn't have to do that much.
"Ultimately you could see that they wanted it a bit more than us - maybe need as opposed to want.
"We hung off a bit in attack and defence. We didn't attack the gain line and in defence we got very tight. That comes back to work rate - our spacing wasn't very good, guys were on the deck for too long and, when that happens, other guys have to do your job.
"The warning bells were going in the first half when our kick chase was non-existent. The kicks weren't great but you can make a poor kick look good with a good chase but our chase wasn't good.
"That all comes down to work rate again. We didn't have that alignment in defence like we did last week. We didn't work hard enough there and it's just not good enough really."
The loss in the West Country was Glasgow's third in four Heineken Cup fixtures this season. But while defeat to an English side away from home may have been expected in previous years, the current Glasgow set up demand much more of themselves.
Lineen's men sit at the top of the Magners League standings and have recorded some memorable wins so far this term.
Last season's stunning Heineken Cup victory in Toulouse showed exactly what the side are capable of and Lineen believes this group of Glasgow players have definitely taken steps forward in 2009.
"We're having a good season, but consistency's the word," added Linnen.
"We played badly and we were still winning 6-0 at half time. That shows you just how much higher the expectations have become at Glasgow. People are taking notice of what we're doing here.
"We've got to look at how we can continue to improve. We're not far away. There's a lot of good stuff going on but in Europe you can't make mistakes and you've got to really want it."
