City, whose away record has been good this season, slipped to a 4-2 defeat at Crystal Palace on Saturday, with Neil Warnock and his side gaining a measure of revenge for last season's playoff semi-final defeat in emphatic fashion.
The travelling westerners were two goals down inside twenty minutes, and although they tried to fight back bravely, a goal from Dele Adebola just before half time, only sparked the home side into a better performance with Craig Beattie and Rui Fonte putting the game beyond City before they had chance to pull a consolation goal back through Nicky Maynard.
The City manager was surprised at the poor performance of his team. He told the BBC,
"I was surprised we conceded four goals. We have had some good away performances but that was not one."
Johnson admitted that his side had not played well enough to win the game,
"When you're second best in all departments there is a fair chance you are going to get beat.
"It did not help when you go two goals down though bad play because then you have a mountain to climb and it's very difficult."
He did however admit an unhappiness with Palace's first goal suggesting that the linesman and referee failed to acknowledge that the ball was out of play,
"I was disappointed with their first goal because it definitely went out of play. But they still scored three others. If that was the only goal we lost by, then I would have been really disappointed but it was our team which lost us the game, not that decision."