City debutant David Dunn duly scored from the resulting penalty although Kasey Keller got a good hand to the midfielders spot-kick.
"It was never a penalty," Hoddle said after the 1-0 defeat.
"I don't think this referee should have been in charge of the game.
"He had a big problem with Birmingham in Malaysia and you could tell that he was affected by that. From the first minute I knew it would go against us.
"Savage has fouled our player. He's all over Tony. I've watched it again and I can't see a penalty.
"It's a poor, poor decision and the difference between us getting something out of the game and getting absolutely nil. That's hard to take."
"If we'd have got to half-time at 0-0 I think we would have won that game. It was a poor decision and it sticks in the throat."