Brown said his side had failed to execute when they had the possession and territory against the Hurricanes, especially inside the 22m area due to inexperience and patience and not being ruthless.
It hadn't helped that flanker Shannon Frizell and wing Freedom Vahaakolo had not scored first-half tries; Frizell losing the ball over the line and Vahaakolo not stretching out for the line in a tackle.
"We've got a young squad, young players and it's just a matter of keeping at it, keep putting in the effort and you'll get the result," he said.
There were bonuses in the way lock Paripari Parkinson and centre Thomas Umaga-Jensen had marked their returns to the side while fullback Josh Ioane had been a spark for the side from the back, Brown said.
"All the individual stuff is there, the effort's there, we just need real polish around the execution."
Highlanders co-captain Ash Dixon said it had a funny night because it felt like they made all the play and did some good things to get themselves into position only for their execution to let them down.
"It's something we've talked about a lot but we just can't seem to put the foot on the throat of teams. There were plenty of opportunities out there tonight, but we didn't seem to nail it," he said.
"There's nothing wrong with our attitude and the boys turning up, it's just our detail," he said.
"With the side we have got, we should be better than that. It doesn't get any easier, we're playing a team next week [the Crusaders] who are right on top of their game," he said.