The Sunderland defender's shirt-pull on Blues' defender Alex produced a spot-kick that gave Chelsea a 2-0 lead – and left the visitors with no way back.

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Though the result went with form and expectation, Higginbotham is a player who is hurt by any setback – even against one of the best teams in Europe.

He said: "It's disappointing. It's always disappointing to lose a game.

"Losing a game is always hard to take and this is no exception.

"The penalty killed the game. It was a poor decision on my part.

"It was an instinctive thing and the referee gave the penalty.

"Was it a penalty? It was touch and go.

"Some are given, some are not.

"I'm not going to attempt to make excuses for it.

"You just have to get on with it."

Chelsea showed their ruthless streak.

Though they dominated possession, they didn't really lay siege to the Sunderland goal and defensive errors played a part in both of the home side's goals – with Higginbotham probably at fault for leaving Andriy Shevchenko unmarked to head the opener after Saloman Kalou was given time and space to cross.

Higginbotham, snapped up from Stoke in August, added: "When you play against the top, top teams, they're going to get a couple of chances and, when they came, Chelsea put them away.

"Our defending was fine for most of the game and we showed that we can compete and create chances.

"But the result is disappointing, even though no-one expected us to get anything.

"We worked hard and tried to get something. We thought we could.

"But the manner in which is ended is disappointing.

"You try to take some positive things from these situations, but first and foremost we've been beaten and the manner in which it happened is disappointing."