Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish felt his side deserved the 2-2 draw with Manchester City at St Andrews on Wednesday.
The Blues fell behind in the fourth minute when City skipper Carlos Tevez struck but fought back through Nikola Zigic 18 minutes later.
And even though Birmingham again went behind when Aleksandar Kolarov scored with a free-kick prior to half-time, the home side rallied to grab a point thanks to a well-converted penalty from Craig Gardner.
Substitute Kevin Phillips had won the spot-kick after a tangle with Patrick Vieira, prompting criticism from City boss Roberto Mancini who suggested he dived but McLeish was right behind his striker and was adamant Birmingham deserved the point.
"Kevin has flicked the ball past Vieira and he has clattered in to him. That is a foul. Kevin was too quick for him," McLeish said.
"Vieira collided with him. Kevin never dived. Kevin is not a diver. He is a true English gentleman.
"We deserved the draw. We shot ourselves in the foot by giving away a couple of silly goals but we were excellent in the second half.
"City moved the ball well and have great footballers in (David) Silva and Tevez while (Edin) Dzeko will bring a lot when he is really fit.
"But we had a right go ourselves at them in the second period and were more in their faces."
