Northampton Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder has blamed a lack of patience for his side's defeat at Exeter Chiefs in the Aviva Premiership.

The Saints were beaten 21-10 at Sandy Park on Sunday as their lead at the top of the table was cut to six points.

Despite enjoying plenty of possession during the match, Mallinder believes that a failure to take their chances cost his team.

"It was always going to be difficult coming here and we're disappointed because we actually played quite a lot of good rugby," he is quoted as saying by the Northampton Chronicle. "We'll look at our chances, particularly in the first half, and we got close to their line, but didn't show any patience and lost the ball.

"It put us under pressure, and at 8-5 down at half time we thought we'd done well, but we couldn't get out of our half and made some silly decisions."

Northampton return to action on April 25 when they host second-placed Saracens in the league.