Danny Care felt Harlequins let Friday night’s game against Gloucester get away from them after they were pipped 28-26 in the Gallagher Premiership.

The veteran half-back made his record-breaking 352nd appearance for Quins, surpassing Mike Brown’s mark after 17 years at the club.

Tabai Matson’s side held on for much of the game but Gloucester showed their relentless grit in attack over the final ten minutes through two devasting tries from Santiago Carreras and Louis Rees-Zammit to snatch the win.

Quins took the scores to 28-26 with a late grounding from youth product Matas Jurevicius but overall they failed to be clinical and fell victim to avoidable errors.

“There were too many mistakes,” Care said. “We seem to do one good thing and then back it up with a negative.”

“We score a good try then drop the restart and invite some pressure back on us. We thought we got ourselves into a good position to win the game.”

“Unfortunately, a couple of soft tries, a couple of stupid penalties and you’re chasing the game.

“We should’ve won, we let it slip through our fingers and we’ve got to work on that because this league is very unforgiving.”

“Credit to us to get two points out of the game but we need a win these days, we needed five today. We didn’t get it and that’s the disappointing thing.”

Quins have now suffered five defeats on the bounce and Leicester’s win over Saracens puts them level on points with the 2021 champions.

It was a disappointing end to an historic day for Care, who became the club's all-time appearance record maker.

"It’s special to break the record, I know how much it meant to [Mike] Browny, to be the appearance holder.

“We always say to play for Quins once is special, so be able to do it more times than anyone else, I'm really happy and thankful for the club for keeping me for this long.

“I still love the club – disappointing to not get the victory today but still a special day."

Quins have now suffered five defeats on the bounce and Leicester’s win over Saracens put them level on points with the 2021 champions.

Exeter are also level on points but ahead on goal difference and have a game in hand.

But Quins boss, Matson, remained optimistic as six games remain for his side in the Gallagher Premiership.

“They deserved the win but we walk away with two points which I think are going to be critical at the end of the day,” he said.

"They are one of the best defensive sides in the league. With 10 minutes to go, we had it in our sights so there are lots of positives.

"It is great when the league table changes every weekend. It will definitely come down to the last weekend. Those two points could be very valuable.

"We are running out of runway. The game we have left become must-wins."