The West Wallians looked set to pick up derby bragging rights after leading 24-7 going into the final 10 minutes, but the hosts capitulated following yellow cards for Wales duo Taine Plumtree and Blair Murray.
Cardiff capitalised as replacement prop Javan Sebastian crossed twice, whilst full-back Cameron Winnett also scored in a 21-point spree in nine minutes.
The Blue and Blacks had led 7-5 at half-time with Wales centre Ben Thomas crossing and Scarlets flanker Plumtree responding.
Scarlets scored with three early second-half tries with centre Johnny Williams, scrum-half Dane Blacker and full-back Murray all crossing.
They seemed to have sealed victory before Cardiff scored three late tries to the frustration of the Scarlets boss who thought his side should have sealed the victory.
“We felt we did enough to win and scored some really good tries,” said the Scarlets Interim Director of Rugby.
“But obviously we got a few moments wrong in that last 15 minutes which turned the game Cardiff’s way.
“We made some poor decisions and the momentum swung. Fair play to Cardiff for sticking in there and coming away with the result, but there were five or six key moments which turned it in their favour.
“In terms of the effort, it was admirable. We should have scored more points in the first half, we had good field position, five-metre line-outs which we are not converting which is hurting us at the moment. It was a tough one to take.”
A frustrated Davies reiterated the need to be more clinical when his side has the ball in hand and addressed the need for an improvement in discipline which has hampered progression.
“I suppose, it is a reflection on the season that we have had – we have been competitive, but we haven‘t been clinical enough at key times.
“I am not taking anything away from Cardiff, you have to respect what they did there, but we had a lot of control, a lot of possession, a lot of territory, a lot of field position, which is good, but we have to convert that into points and results.
“We have got to be tougher on ourselves in lots of areas. We have done that and we know where we are going moving forward, there are certain things that we have been able to change.
“There are other things we can’t change immediately, and moving forward, we will make those changes, and it will make a difference.
“At this level, if you can add two, three, four, five percent to your game, it makes a massive difference.
“I thought there was a yellow card coming if we kept the pressure on. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of the yellow cards at the end, which again has been a consistent theme in our performances. These are the moments you have got to eliminate from your game and get right.
“The team are devastated, we have also been on the other side of that this season against Ulster.
“What I have said to the boys is we have three games left, we have got to pick ourselves up, we can’t feel sorry for ourselves, but we have got to start converting those performances into results, and that has been the difference this season.”
Scarlets, who lie in 14th place in the URC table, host the Bulls next weekend, before two Welsh derby dates with Ospreys and Dragons close the season.
[Lead image: Scarlets Rugby]
