The visitors fought their way back into the game, as Ben John, Dan Baker and Rhys Webb each crossed over but a score from GUINNESS PRO12 leading try-scorer Matt Healy and the boot of Craig Ronaldson took Connacht to a 30-22 win.
That ensured the Ospreys narrowly missed on out a pair of losing bonus points but Gibbes insists they were the architects of their own downfall.
"We've got tons of effort and tons of resilience but we lack clarity and accuracy at crucial times," he said. "If you look at the first ten minutes, we've turned the ball over five times.
"It's pretty disappointing if I'm honest. We are trailing 14 points and climbing a mountain and the game is only ten minutes in. You can't keep giving teams a head start, as we have been, you'll get caught out in the end.
"You've got to look after the ball. You've got to get the basics right and we felt that we didn't give the team the platform that we needed.
"We've had to work for everything we got and although the effort was very pleasing, that's not enough if we are going to miss tackles, lose the ball cheaply and not exit properly.
"Connacht did look awesome at times but a lot of that was down to lack of accuracy and stuff from us. They took their opportunities though and all credit to them for that."
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Guinness PRO12 Connacht News
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