Joseph's team went down 27-21 to the Chiefs and all but kissed goodbye to their chances of making the playoffs.
"There was two turnover tries and I think the previous four or five phases we had showed some good play.
"But it only took one knock-on, some good play from the Chiefs to get that first try," Joseph said.
"You put that with a couple of silly penalties and that is margin of seven points . . . we didn't execute well enough and in big rugby you need to do that."
Joseph felt the Chiefs contested well at the breakdown and picked the right breakdown to attack.
"There was a few dubious things they were doing to our halfback and I would like to have a look at that but at certain times they picked the right rucks."
The Highlanders did get a bonus point and Joseph said whether they would still figure in the playoffs was in the hands of other teams.
He said the defence of the Chiefs kept halfback Aaron Smith quiet and the timing of the runs from the forwards was not quite on song with Smith.
There was not a lot of depth in the Highlanders ruck, and that did not help Smith in trying to get quick ball.
Joseph felt both teams were rusty from the three-week break, as combinations broke down at times.
He thought sometimes the Chiefs players appeared to be coming in on the angle but that was part of the game.
The Highlanders scrum had one of its best performances of the season.
Centre Tamati Ellison was forced off the field in the second half with a pulled hamstring and looks doubtful for next Friday night's game against the Reds in Brisbane.
Highlanders lock Jarrad Hoeata said his side played plenty of rugby, but just could not get through a flat-standing defence.
"We played a lot of rugby in that first half and they got a couple of long-range tries.
"They took their chances, They had a few and they took them.
"We had a few but they closed them down," Hoeata said.
"We had our chances to win but it just did not go our way . . . that try they scored a minute before halftime was a bit of a killer."
