Question about HOTAS combat

I am wondering if anyone else struggles with aiming when using a HOTAS.
I have been playing Elite on both HOTAS and mouse/keyboard depending wheter or not I use VR however last night I tried for the first time to kill some Goids with my HOTAS and man its so hard to hit scouts / hearts with it. With mouse and keyboard I don't have any issues and I can hit most of my Gaus cannon shots.
So is there a sectret to "HOTAS combat" that I haven't found out yet after 1500 hours xD ? Do you guys always use your HOTAS ? Or is there people that play the game with a HOTAS but when they do combat they switch to mouse and keyboard?
Is mouse and keyboard better for combat?
Useally I do my spacetrucking , exploring and mining with HOTAS so I'm still new to combat with it while I am very experienced with mouse and keyboard pve/pvp.
Also I use a Thrustmaster T16000M without pedals and I have 1 throttle controller and 1 stick. ( since some people use dual sticks , I don't.)

o7 !