Gus Poyet said Brighton only had themselves to blame after Birmingham condemned Albion to their first league defeat since the opening day.
A sixth successive victory would have given Brighton their best start to a season for 35 years but Birmingham defended impressively to bounce back from last Saturday's 5-0 thrashing at home to Barnsley.
Poyet said: "That's football and to be fair to Birmingham they defended well. We only have ourselves to blame.
"We did everything but the problem was that Birmingham scored first and we didn't have that special moment."
Brighton remain top of the Championship despite their defeat and Poyet feels they have the perfect opportunity to make up for it when Ipswich visit The Amex on Tuesday.
The Uruguayan added: "We are still top but we don't like to lose and we have got a great chance on Tuesday.
"With due respect to the other teams, it is up to us now and we need to do things from the first minute.
"Birmingham came with a plan and they scored a spectacular goal so credit to them.
"We waited too long to play a high tempo and we needed one action to change the game. It was not good enough today but I can't ask the players to be always perfect."
Poyet gave a full debut to former Swansea striker Stephen Dobbie in the absence of injured top scorer Craig Mackail-Smith and was impressed with the Scot's performance.
He said: "Dobbie just needs to play games. He was looking for the one opportunity to score and although it was not an easy full debut for him, we are very confident that he will score goals."
Birmingham manager Lee Clark was delighted with the reaction shown by his players following their heavy defeat against Barnsley.
He said: "It was a fantastic result after a totally abject performance in getting beaten 5-0. The players delivered.
"Everyone was hurting last weekend as we didn't perform to the demands made, but the players to a man have responded magnificently.
"It was an awful 72 hours but we needed a game plan coming to a place like Brighton and we simply couldn't dwell on the Barnsley game.
"There is a lot of ability in the Brighton team and they have several potential match winners and in my opinion they are right on the verge of progressing to the next level."
Midfielder Burke settled the issue with an unstoppable 20-yard shot and Clark enthused: "The goal was worthy of winning any game."
Clark drafted in experienced defender Paul Robinson, 33, for his Birmingham debut and was delighted with the way the former Bolton man performed.
He added: "Robinson's nous and experience is invaluable. We needed him as we are without the services of three full-backs - Stephen Carr, Paul Caddis and David Murphy.
"Robinson was short of match practice but he used all his experience to come through match superbly."
