Wasps director of rugby Dai Young accepted his team had played poorly as they missed their opportunity to go top of the Aviva Premiership table with a 36-18 defeat at Kingsholm.
They were outgunned by a fiercely committed Gloucester, who scored five tries through Charlie Sharples, Richard Hibbard, Henry Purdy, Matt Scott and Mark Atkinson with James Hook converting four and adding a penalty.
Young's son Thomas scored both Wasps tries, with Jimmy Gopperth converting one and kicking two penalties - but Gloucester were the better side throughout.
Young senior said: "The result is disappointing but if anything the performance is more disappointing as we were second best in most departments.
"Gloucester haven't had a lot of luck this season, being on the wrong end of some close games. They are a good team so I have been wary of this game all week.
"We were pretty loose, our set-piece creaked and we lacked accuracy as we lost two scrums and two line-outs in attacking positions.
"We had an opportunity to fire some shots but we didn't take them. We still may have got a bonus point but we certainly didn't deserve any more than that".
After some narrow defeats, Gloucester boss David Humphreys was delighted as his side expertly carried out their game plan to stifle Wasps' attacking threat.
Humphreys said: "We knew how we wanted to play as we've had three weeks to prepare for it. The half-backs executed the plan magnificently with our defence outstanding and we competed very well throughout.
"Fifteen of our last 16 games have been decided by less than 10 points so we've been close in the past with our only poor performance against Newcastle, so to win today was very important.
It doesn't get any easier for Gloucester as they now face a trip to Saracens next week, which Humphreys accepted would be a tough task. "We will enjoy this result but next week we will be against the very best but after this win, we will go there in a better place."