LIAM Middleton has been nothing if not level-headed throughout Bristol's Championship campaign to date. So, the man who celebrated his side's table-topping achievement by offering his players a straightforward "well done" was unlikely to overreact to yesterday's defeat in Penzance.

The Bristol head coach, better than anyone else, knows that the rugby played in May – not February – will determine the identity of this season's Championship winners.

That rule can be applied both positively and negatively to the league leaders, particularly when they have just been beaten by a side they could face again when it really counts.

But while Middleton will have seen aspects to please him at the Mennaye Field – Henry Vanderglas' barnstorming contribution an obvious example – he will also have left Cornwall somewhat concerned by areas of his team's performance.

A one-point defeat away from home to Pirates, with Roy Winters, Josh Ovens, James Merriman and Fautua Otto all missing, is certainly no disaster – and nor would it be in the first leg of a knockout play-off clash.

But Middleton saw his side shaded in the physical battle by a dynamic Pirates team, he saw two of his players lose their discipline and earn yellow cards, he saw dropped and forward passes, and he saw his players lack composure at key stages.

That assessment is harsh on a Bristol team who contributed significantly to a stirring game and lost by a point. But, where Middleton and Bristol are concerned, the next few months will not be a time for plucking the occasional positive from a narrow loss – it will be about eradicating the errors to ensure the tightest games are won.

Pirates, of course, are still playing for league positions – and the difference between finishing second and third is one play-off point and immeasurable psychological gains.

But Middleton denied the game meant more to yesterday's hosts than it did to his men now they have guaranteed top spot. "I don't think it meant more to them – I just think they outplayed us," he said. "It meant a lot to our boys and they worked very hard – but Pirates worked hard and it meant a lot to them.

"The difference was game-management and execution – and they just outdid us on that. I think they carried harder than us. We posed them a lot of questions when we stretched them, but, around the tight stuff, they held on a bit stronger than us.

"The effort was phenomenal, outstanding. But you have to remember that, going into the play-offs, every team puts in effort and you've got to be a little better than that."

The game itself was a belter, befitting a play-off knockout game even if the rewards are considerably less significant at this stage.

Pirates stormed out of the blocks – and how Bristol were not more than eight points adrift after the opening quarter was something of a mystery.

After Grant Pointer landed a long-range penalty and the opening try had been scored by Dave Ward – who always seems to perform against Bristol with the zest and drive you would associate with a former Bath player – the visitors slowly found their feet in the game.

They produced a try on 29 minutes which owed plenty to both physicality and execution – two aspects that Middleton felt his players had come up short on for much of the game.

Vanderglas was the spark, securing possession initially and then making the break that created the space for Tristan Roberts and Jack Tovey to combine to send Luke Eves to the line. Roberts missed the conversion but slotted two penalties before the break to give his side the lead – and a third shortly after the restart when Matt Evans was yellow-carded for halting a stunning, 45-metre Vanderglas break using methods not permitted within the laws of the game.

But Bristol struggled to make their numerical advantage count – with Rob Cook reducing the arrears before Mariano Sambucetti saw yellow for throwing a punch at Phil Burgess.

After Sambucetti's dismissal, it was not long before Chris Morgan – a Bristol academy product – was burrowing over to put his side in front, with Cook's conversion making it 18-14. Although Roberts made it 18-17 with 18 minutes plus stoppage-time to play, Bristol ended the game on the back foot with Pirates scenting blood. Darren Crompton's yellow card, seconds after going on to the field, merely weakened Bristol's already-slim hopes of victory.

"You cannot play Cornish Pirates with 14 men on the field – they are too good a side. You have to keep 15 against them," said Middleton.