Etiquette question

So, I am nee to the game, but I've known how the pieces move for quite sometime. My issue is that I went to the local library rare to play (they have weekly sessions), and I played well enough to win. The issue is that my opponent had been playing for a while, and basically accused me of being rude and unsportsmanlike. for perspective, I was black and at the very end of the game, I had 2 rooks, a queen, a bishop a knight and 4 pawns (2 passed pawns) against a King and a Pawn. As a newer player, I went for the first Checkmate I saw, but kept taking their powerful pieces when I had a chance (i.e. apparebtly, I saw a chance to take pieces and defend myself before I noticed mate in 2 moves on the board, etc.) My opponent said I was gloating and was being unsportsmanlike. I honestly wasn't trying to be. I was just making moves within a timed game (first game I've ever played with a clock). The weekly gathering is supposed to be set up at least somewhat for beginners, so as a general rule, they have people play through the games (i.e. no resignations -but honestly, if my opponent had resigned, I'm not sure I would have known enough to know why). Anyway, what's the best way to deal with this type of situation where a new player is not trying to be rude or unsportsmanlike, but keeps missing checkmate (I did check my opponent multiple times without it being mate, and I do the puzzles on here daily). Essentially, he accused me of being rude. I said I'm just starting out and learning, and I got a sparky, "Yeah, right, like that helps." response. I don't want to make people mad at me. I'm just trying to learn the game. But now I'm having flashbacks to when I was trying to learn Bridge, and made a wrong bid at a bridge club because I didn't really understand the type of hand I had. Based on my play on here and against bots, I'm definitely not some prodigy or ace player, so don't get confused by that.

I mean…
There is always an easy way to deal with this situation and a difficult way.

The easy solution:
Apologising and moving on after explaining that you are new to the game and didn’t know any better. The general tendency to not resign is uncommon, but for beginners who don’t really know the rules of the events, it’s understandable.

The difficult one:
Holding on to the majority and rather confident stance - insisting that you’ve done nothing wrong.
This approach may lead to more conflict, but it’s also a way to assert yourself.


The easy one is preferable of course, in my opinion.


Greetings and have fun playing chess!