Otago struggled to a 22-8 win over Counties-Manukau at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland on Thursday night, with the side bombing many opportunities.
It was only when lock Ross Kennedy went over to score the side's third try with 3min to go that Otago secured the match.
The game was littered with mistakes, with Otago clocking up 17 handling errors.
Martin said the side created the opportunities but small errors at critical times cost the side.
"They are just little things that the players tried . . . they were trying to do too much too quickly," he said.
He said the execution of the last pass was disappointing at times. The team needed to show more patience.
"We put ourselves in good positions and created the opportunities but we just could not finish off."
Martin said credit had to be given to the Counties-Manukau defence although he felt it was at times coming from an offside position.
It was hard to attack wide as the Counties-Manukau defence was offside in the outside backs from rucks, Martin said.
Otago led 12-8 at half-time and dominated territory in the second half but had only a penalty and Kennedy's converted try to show for its efforts.
Martin said it was a tough night for referee Josh Noonan, from Canterbury, as it was his first game under the experimental law variations.
Noonan struggled at times and the breakdown was a mess, with players coming in from the wrong side.
New players such as Eben Joubert and Sean Romans had gained valuable playing time and Martin could have a look at how they performed.
Positives from the game were the performances at the set piece by Otago and some impressive scrambling defence.
Otago plays Hawkes Bay at Carisbrook next Friday night, with Adam Thomson available for selection. Martin said he was looking forward to getting the All Black back and was looking at starting the rangy flanker.
