Mark Evans, always wanting to show the face of a proud man, looked devastated as Harlequins lost their fourth Premiership match in a row. It leaves them joint bottom with Leeds and Worcester.
It was made worse that this home encounter was heralded as a showcase to mark the 1,000th Premiership game. In front of a reasonably good crowd and with live television coverage, the chief executive suffered as his side played a dull, lacklustre game full of poor passing, missed opportunities and basic errors.
'We didn't play in the second half, did we?' he asked as if looking for some divine intervention. 'We were 10-3 up and I thought the line-outs and the scrummages were going well. It did look promising.
'It was 10-8 at half-time, but in the second half the basics were really poor. The line-outs and scrummages were very poor.
'You've got to take your chances in what was a tight game and we didn't. I didn't see this coming on the back of a fairly good season. I am very unhappy. There's no backbiting or cliques in the dressing room. We've got on a losing run and that's when confidence does take a knock.'
Clearly Quins were missing Will Greenwood, the England centre having been told by doctors not to play for another week at least following the head injury he sustained two weeks ago.
Bath were also under strength, with many injuries that led to head coach John Connolly to make changes in the line-up. He was unable to call on Steve Borthwick, missing from the second row having been suspended for seven days after being found guilty of punching an opponent at the end of the match against Newcastle.
Connolly's plan for the season is to rely on using 22 men in each game. 'It's a 22-man game now, not a 15 one any more,' he said.
'We had our problems. We gave away the first try with a turnover. It was wet and slippery out there. Both sides realised it was difficult to get the ball.'
The visitors opened up the scoring after the first five minutes which were nothing but scrappy and careless play. Fly-half Olly Barkley took the opportunity to kick the ball between the uprights from the 22-metre line, immediately putting Quins on the attack.
Barkley shared the honours with try-scorers Kieron Lewitt and Andrew Higgins, along with a drop goal from Chris Malone.
Quins' tally came from a penalty and conversion from Jeremy Staunton, and a try from Simon Keogh.
Harlequins: Duffy; Monye, Harder, Reay, Keogh; Staunton, So'oialo (James 67); Jones, Tiatia (Fuga 68), Dawson (Fitzgerald 50), Rudzki, Miall (Winters 50), Sheriff (Molitika 67), Vos, Diprose.
Bath: Best (Davey 65); Crockett (Lewitt 34), Fleck, Barkley, Higgins; Malone, Walshe (Wood 53); Barnes (Stevens 34), Humphreys (Mears 64), Bell, Fidler, Grewcock, Beattie, Lipman (Delve 79), Fea'unati.
Referee: C White.
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