Paul Caddis tucked away a late penalty for the hosts after Britt Assombalonga's handball in the penalty area earned him a red card just minutes after he had hauled the Reds level at St Andrew's.
Pearce admitted that he had seen the handball and praised the match officials for making the right call even if the referee himself had not spotted the infringement and was seemingly alerted to it by the fourth official on the sidelines.
Pearce also stated that the nature of his side's defeat would not act as a 'smokescreen' to a poor performance on the back of last weekend's comfortable success at Wolves.