Stiliyn Petrov admitted the Aston Villa locker room was stunned by their late defeat to Stoke City.
The captain said it was important Villa learnt lessons from the 2-1 loss, particularly developing a ruthless ability to see games through in the closing stages.
He told AVTV: "I didn't think we deserved that.
"But at the end of the day it us up to us players to make sure we see the game through. We defended very well, we were well organised, we played some good stuff and we scored a great goal to give us the lead.
"We looked comfortable and they were just playing long balls. They were making us work hard but that's exactly what we were doing - working hard.
"It was so disappointing to see us eventually go down and lose the game in the last 10 minutes.
"Their first goal was a great header. I can complain about the second one because a few things went against us. But at the end of the day, we can blame this and that but it's up to us to see the game through. We played well but we need to be more clinical.
"We got the important goal and then we needed to see it through - but we couldn't. In this league, if you don't, you get punished. The dressing room is down because we put in a lot of hard work."
