City took the lead through Phil Foden, but the Blues quickly hit back when Daizen Maeda raced away to score. Erling Haaland headed in to put the hosts back in front, then scored again after the break to make it 3-1.

The Norwegian goal machine rightly had a hat-trick goal chalked off for offside late on, then Ipswich pulled one back in the 90th minute when Zian Flemming slammed home a penalty awarded, via VAR, for a foul on Abdul Fatawu.

"When I said that we were coming here believing we could take points, I really did believe we could. So I'm really disappointed that we haven't," said O'Neil.

"Secondly though, I'm proud of what the players gave, of course. It takes a lot to come here and to keep yourself in a game for that long. They gave absolutely everything and were fully committed to what we tried to do.

"There were some bits that we could have done better that maybe would have swung some of those fine margins in our favour.

"But they're an incredible group. To get to stand at the front and represent a team like that, that works like that, with that support in the stands, giving everything for 102 minutes, it's a privilege. Hopefully we can take belief from today so that next time that we face something like this, maybe we can be a little bit more assured in certain moments."

On the first thing that frustrated him in the game, O'Neil said: "The second goal against us is the one that really annoys me. Personally, I can accept the first and the third one because there will be some chaos in the game and the game will get open at some point. And you know if it does, then likes of Foden and Doku and Haaland and Fernandes, they can hurt you.

"The second goal was something that we'd worked on a lot, so that one was the one that really annoyed me. And then maybe just at the end, some quality in those last moments where the place was a bit anxious."

On the second thing that got under his skin, the Blues boss added: "The combination of us not quite being good enough in those moments and the linesman keep wrongly putting his flag up, which is mad - infuriating in fact. It's nothing against the officials, I think they did some good stuff today and I've got a good relationship with them. I spoke to them all afterwards, no problem.

"But when you're only getting six or seven attacks at the Etihad, to lose three of them to wrongly given offsides is tough to take momentum-wise. Dara O'Shea's header, him nor Issa (Diop) are offside. Abdoul Ouattara running underneath, he isn't offside.

"Little bits meant we fell a little bit short, but we can be proud of what we gave. I think it's another game where we've gone and shown everybody that we can compete. I can sign up for that if the lads are going to give that every week."