Birmingham manager Alex McLeish vented his anger at referee Martin Atkinson over the penalty award which kept Villa in contention for a Champions League spot.

James Milner converted an 83rd-minute spot-kick to settle the Second City derby at Villa Park and move the home side level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham in the Premier League.

But McLeish was adamant that his defender Roger Johnson had won the ball in the challenge on Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor which led to the penalty award.

And the Blues boss echoed the feelings of Stoke boss Tony Pulis that bigger teams have more decisions going in their favour.

McLeish said: “It was a bad mistake by the referee. It’s a shame he gets such a big decision wrong in such a big game.

“I am not questioning his fitness but Agbonlahor, with his pace, is difficult to keep up with. The referee was so far behind and he surmised it was a penalty. I have defended referees a lot but I can’t defend that one. He got it wrong.

“Roger Johnson has made a name for himself with that kind of tackle. He got the ball cleanly.

“Tony Pulis has said he feels bigger teams get more decisions throughout the course of the season and today was evidence of that.”

The Blues boss felt his team deserved a draw at the very least and was left to rue the inspired form of Villa’s veteran goalkeeper Brad Friedel.

He added: “I should be here talking about an outstanding performance at the end of a game which we were more than good value to have taken a result from.

“Villa may think they edged the first half but in that first 45 minutes we had several chances and Brad Friedel was in inspired form. He certainly saved them from conceding a few goals.

“We came out guns blazing second half and were excellent. The lads should be rightly proud of how they played.

“The volley from Craig Gardner looked in all the way as soon as it left his foot, until Friedel produced another top class save and we came close with other chances.

“In this game you have to lick your wounds and move on to the next challenge, but it’s harder to do so when you experience what happened.

“A decision cost us but, like I’ve said, we’ll lick our wounds and get ready to take on Burnley at St Andrew’s on Saturday.”

The Scot praised the performances of Gregory Vignal and ex-Villa defender Liam Ridgewel,l after Scott Dann’s injury prompted a defensive reshuffle.

He added: “Vignal hasn’t started a game for a while and has been on the bench but I thought he did very well.

“Liam showed just how far he has matured as a player to slot back into the centre-half position and play so well.

“And he wasn’t the only one – it was a great team performance and once again we proved we could go toe-to-toe with one of the biggest clubs in the Premier League.”