Danny Wilson insists Cardiff Blues must be more clinical in attack ahead of next week's derby against Ospreys, as the Scarlets claimed a narrow 11-14 win at Cardiff Arms Park on New Year's Eve.
Wales' Capital Region dominated possession and territory throughout, but Scarlets' two tries were enough to claim victory in the second festive derby of the campaign.
The Blues face Conference A rivals, Ospreys, at Liberty Stadium next week, and Wilson believes his side can take positives going into next week's match.
"I thought we were the better team tonight. We owned pressure and territory in terms of stats, applied huge pressure and created a number of opportunities, but we didn’t convert enough into points. That was the difference between the two sides," said Wilson.
"We should be sat here with a win. That’s not the case and I know we’ll look back at this game as a missed opportunity.
"Performance-wise, we’ll look back at this game and say it was a good performance, bar converting enough. I know that sounds pretty obvious in a game where you have to score more points than the opposition.
"It’s always great to have a sell-out here at the Arms Park. There was a great atmosphere here today and those are the games the boys want to be playing in.
"There are lots of positives to take from the game. We dominated certain areas of the game, our driving line-outs was effective all games and we caused problems through that.
"It’s another short turn-around of six day before we go again.
"The Ospreys played well against Scarlets away from home and were unlucky as well. There is certainly an improvement in performances collectively in the last few weeks so it’s going to be a big challenge and it would be great to go down there and get a win.
"We’ve picked up seven wins in the past 10 games up to today so, with injuries players coming back and the performance we’ve put in tonight, we can take confidence going to the Ospreys, looking to convert some of the pressure into more points and get the win."
Amongst those returning from injuries were try scorer Ellis Jenkins, and George Earle who impressed throughout with his physical attributes.
Wilson is delighted to welcome key players back into squad contention ahead of a crucial period in the season on both domestic and European fronts.
"Ellis Jenkins was never supposed to play as long as he did, but he played really well.
"It was good to also have Rhys Gill, Tafua’ao Filise, George Earle, who I thought did really well to replace Seb Davies at the last minute, back out there after injuries was good.
"Likewise, Willis Halaholo has had a couple of weeks off with injury and a few boys from the bench like Alex Cuthbert coming back into contention."