Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter says a lack of focus amongst his players was to blame for their 31-28 loss to Harlequins.

The defeat was Exeter’s fourth in five Prem matches this season and leaves them second from bottom, a point above bottom side Newcastle.

Olly Woodburn’s late try gave Exeter hope, but they were unable to overcome a Harlequins side that they had beaten 38-0 in the corresponding fixture last season.

It leaves Exeter six points off the play-off places as the league goes into its hiatus for the November internationals.

“We were just losing ball over and over and over again, and for us to be in it at the death, with just the amount of basic mistakes we made, it’s probably a credit to our work ethic and our resilience,” Baxter told BBC Radio Devon.

“But you look at the way we gave up those first two tries, we lose the ball in the first one and then, I don’t know what we’re trying to do defensively, we’re diving all over the place, just jumping out of line and that gives them a really easy break and they’re a very good transition side.

“Then that first set of phase defence, we get around the corner and we just scatter and they just almost walked through us.

“That’s just individual focus, that’s what I said to the lads, I said ‘I don’t think we are far off, but our individual focus is all over the place’.

“We were defending like individuals at the early part of the game and then our focus to be able to just control the ball was very very poor.

“Those two things alone have cost us massively today.”

Baxter’s side reached last season’s Prem final after finishing fourth, a year after a second-from-bottom finish.

He feels that his side are capable of pushing up the table, with the gap to the top four just six points.

“If we can get three wins back-to-back in the Prem when we come back in, we’ll probably be in the top four,” he said.

“That’s not beyond us, I don’t think.

“If we can come through this next period unscathed, get everybody else up and running, I think we’ve got a really good chance of being one of the form teams in that period.

“At some stage we’re going to hit form, because I know the lads are working hard so let’s make sure it’s them.”