"I felt there was a game there for the winning and we just had to step it up a gear. Then we got a goal which I thought could be our platform, but all it did was to make us worse."
Keegan added: "I felt there was a lot of players not doing themselves justice and in the end I made a few changes which give us a lift."
City's young midfielder said: "The game was there to be won. No one has come out of that dressing room on Saturday thinking that we gained a point. We are bitterly disappointed not to have won."
Barton also expressed his views on an unconvincing defensive display: "The job should have been done long before Paulo's equaliser but we gave away two sloppy goals. We feel it is two points lost.
"We are not going to be able to defend as a team like that all season and maintain hopes of a really high finish."
But the new U21 cap said there were positives to take from the 2-2 draw: "No one can question the spirit in our side because that is twice, against Portsmouth and Fulham, when we have conjured up a late equaliser to get a point but we don't want to have to make a habit of it.
"We feel we should have games wrapped up before injury time."