With Blues leading 1-0 through a Cameron Jerome effort, referee Rob Styles awarded Necastle a penalty which Obafemi Martin converted to level the scores. "There was no way Martins was getting the ball from Sadler's tackle. Liam Ridgewell had easily mopped it up. "It was a pretty cruel way for Newcastle to get back into it, from our point of view. "The decisions went more in Newcastle's favour than ours. They had a lot of territorial advantage but did not really look like hurting us.
"We were comfortable and they got a penalty which gave them momentum and we're aggrieved at the decision," the Blues boss said after the game.
"I have seen the pictures. When you see it slowed down, Mathew Sadler wins the ball, follows through with his right foot on a greasy surface and there was no way of avoiding Martins.
"Maybe with a touch more belief, we could have won that game, never mind lost it.
"But there are a lot of things to take forward to next week."