Steve Bruce

Steve Bruce admitted his side were made to pay for an "individual mistake after seeing them lose by a single goal to Manchester United.

Blues had numerous opportunities to score against the reigning Premiership champions until Cristiano Ronaldo took advantage of Franck Queudrue's indecision to steal the ball and score with a second half goal.

"I thought we gave a terrific performance, especially in the first half and we deserved something out of the game today," said the Blues boss.

"But we needed to take one of those chances because you don't get that many.

"To create four or five against the champions in the first half was terrific but we've made a horrible mistake and we've got punished and that's the sad thing for me.

Franck Queudrue has the ball robbed from him by Ronaldo in the lead up to United's goal.

"Apart from that we've defended really well against some top players so to lose the game because of a mistake like that was cruel.

"We couldn't have done any more apart from take one of the chances and that's the frustrating thing.

"It was an individual mistake but you don't need to rant and rave at them because we all make them in life.

"He's (Franck Queudrue) picked a horrible time to do it and he'll remember that for a long time that's for sure.

"Man Utd were much better in the second half as I expected, but it was inevitable we weren't going to be able to sustain the pace we put in the first half."

Despite the nature of the defeat Bruce was rightly proud of the overall performance from his young side.

"We've now played three top teams in Chelsea, Liverpool and Man Utd and arguably we could have taken something from all of them so that bodes well," he said.

Gary McSheffrey

"It's a young team that we've put together on a limited budget and they are bearing up well.

"There's about eight of them that haven't played in the Premier League before but they're all enjoying it and having a go and they're looking a decent team."

He was also keen to single out the individual contribution of Gary McSheffrey who showed signs that he is coming back to the form of last season.

"That's the best McSheffrey's played in months so I'm delighted about that," added Bruce.

"I've got no question that he can play in the Premier League, it's just a matter of a bit of confidence."