Tim Sherwood confessed to being "devastated" after Aston Villa surrendered a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 in Sunday's Premier League match at Leicester City.
Villa looked to be heading for maximum points after goals from Jack Grealish and Carles Gil, but Leicester scored three times in the last 18 minutes to snatch the win in dramatic fashion at the King Power Stadium.
"I’m devastated at the way it’s panned out," said Villa manager Sherwood. "At this level, when you’re in total control of a football match for an hour and you throw it away, I’m lost for words.
"We could have been more clinical and gone further ahead in the first period, but we weren't.
"But to then get ourselves into a position where we are controlling a football match and for the momentum to swing the other way so dramatically is really disappointing for me."
Sherwood believes that his side's inability to hold onto possession was to blame for their failure to protect their two-goal advantage.
"You get what you deserve in this game and if you make silly errors and give goals to the opposition, then they get momentum and you’re going to get beat. That’s what we did," he added.
"The first goal was the killer because that gives them a lift. It was a calamity because the goals were shocking.
"The only way you stop momentum is by keeping the ball off the opposition, and we gave it back to them so easily in the last half an hour and it’s something we need to improve on.
"We could have done more to stop them. They weren’t breakaway goals. It wasn’t our defending it was when we had possession and turned it over so cheaply, giving them the opportunity to attack us – that’s the most disappointing for me."
Villa have now taken just four points from their opening five games and they have two more matches against local rivals to come, with West Brom visiting in the league on Saturday before Birmingham City head to Villa Park in the League Cup.
