Dara O'Shea felt he had his shirt pulled at a corner when the score was 0-0, Julio Enciso had a headed finish at a corner disallowed for a foul when the Blues led 1-0, while Emersonn and Daizen Maeda both had penalty appeals waved away at 1-1 and 2-1 down respectively.

"I thought the disallowed goal was right actually - I think they got that one right," said O'Neil. "It looked like a possible foul from Abdul Fatawu on (Oli) McBurnie and Julio is probably offside as well. So no complaints around that. I thought they did well to get that one right."

On O'Shea being grappled at a couple of corners in the first half, O'Neil said: "We've been told you can't hold from corners. We adjust our setup to have less markers now because I think it's tough to mark without giving away penalties in the Premier League.

"(Nobel) Mendy had hold of Doz basically from the moment he entered the box to the moment he left. So I was surprised on those two. I thought they were fairly clear. I think if the referee would have given it, I don't think VAR would have overturned it the other way. So we're probably a little bit more reliant on the ref to see those live.

"They were fortunate to get away with those two. They tell me the second one was still being checked when we scored, so there is potential that that one would have been brought back."

On Emersonn being bumped over in the box by Mendy, O'Neil said: "I can't really remember that one. I remember throwing my arms around a few times in the second half.

"Yeah, no, it did look like there was contact. I think these ones, if they're not blatant, you need them given on the field. If the ref doesn't give it, you know that it's probably not getting overturned.

"The ref obviously thought it wasn't. I haven't seen it back, to be honest, so I don't know."

The Blues boss continued: "I thought we should have scored again. I thought Emmy (Emnersonn) should do better with his left foot one. I thought Daizan (Maeda) could score with his header, to be honest.

"That's the game. It's football. I can't control everything. I'll try. I'd love to. But I can't.

"There is going to be some randomness and some bits where you're reliant on a bit of magic or a bit of defending.

"Walts (Christian Walton) made a good save, to be fair to him. But in terms of performance, I think I can sign up to that.

"If the lads are going to give that every week then we're going to have a real good chance in every game."