Birmingham manager Chris Davies excused his "jaded" team after they failed to finish off Stoke but was unhappy with the visitors' "soft" equaliser.
He told BBC Radio WM: "It was a hard-fought match. We didn't start the game as sharply as we normally do but Stoke came into it quite well and we were losing a lot of balls in midfield.
"We grew a bit into the game, scored a good goal from a set-piece, and from that moment on we needed that second goal. We had some jaded legs, possibly after three games in a week, and needed that second goal to be in a strong position to get three points.
"We didn't. The game was still alive and [they scored] a really soft goal which we're frustrated about. If anyone was going to win it, it was going to be us, but it wasn't to be.
[On Tomoki Iwata's goal] “It was pleasing because we don’t have a lot of time to work [on set-pieces] but the timing, the movement, it was a really good goal, and a worked routine off a set-piece can open a game up for you in a tight game like that.
"They were trying their best but we weren't quite as fluent. The subs improved us and nearly got our winning goal."
