In contrast defeat leaves Gloucester - with their points coming from Ryan Mills' converted try - with an uphill battle to progress having won one of their three encounters in the LV= Cup.
However to Hogg defeat came second to their goal of blooding youngsters and keeping their powder dry ahead of a return to Northampton when the Aviva Premiership action gets back underway in two weekends' time.
"It's a week closer to returning to the Premiership and we've got Bath before coming back to play Northampton in the league," said Hogg.
"It's sometimes difficult because what you don't want to do is show your full hand. You don't want to show all the things you might run in the Premiership.
"It was always about giving opportunities to young guys and returning players and we're mindful of the fact in two weeks' time we've got to come back here.
"Professional players need to play the game and sometimes they don't get the exposure they would like.
"Nigel Davies is very trusting and confident in the players we've got and we do expose a lot of players to LV= Cup level or even Premiership level. That engenders a real good feelgood factor in the squad.
"There's no back-up group and hopefully come the end of the season that will stand us in good stead."
For Saints, victory was somewhat tempered by their profligacy in the final third with a number of scoring opportunities going awry due to some suspect decision-making, George Pisi and returning England international Ben Foden both culpable.
However stand-in backs coach Alan Dickens said: "We're very happy. We talked a couple of weeks ago about winning here against Castres and we did that again.
"We're really positive about the guys' performance and the win.
"The key thing is that we're creating chances and we don't want to get too frustrated. We want to stay positive and we will finish those off.
"It was a poor try that we gave away but generally we were solid in defence and (Northampton captain) Phil Dowson has just talked about that in the dressing room.
"In terms of attitude and commitment it was a really positive performance, apart from that one slip up.
"That's rugby, you get those kind of freak tries. We've had a couple in the past couple of weeks but we'll move on."
Northampton: Foden; Wilson, Pisi, Burrell (Collins 67), May; Lamb (Myler 51), Roberts (Dickson 53); Waller A (Waller E 73), Haywood (McMillan 73), Mercey (Tonga'uiha 65), Sorenson (Craig 65), Day, Manoa (Nutley 65), Dowson, Oakley
Gloucester: Thomas (Cook 73); Reynolds, Trinder (Tindall 40), Molenaar, Monahan; Mills (Cowan 51), Lewis; Thomas (Murphy 51), Britton (D'Apice 63), Chistolini (Heard 39), Lokotui (Savage 51), Stooke, Buxton, Hazell, Evans (Moriarty 63)
Scorers
Northampton Saints:
Tries: Burrell 32, Waller 66
Conversions: Lamb 32, Myler 66
Penalties: Lamb 9, 22, Myler 55, 62
Gloucester
Tries: Mills 24
Conversions: Mills 24
Referee: Luke Pearce
Attendance: 12,722
