Nigel de Jong concedes Manchester City were caught out by Hull City's ferocious start to Saturday's 2-1 defeat.

City missed out on the chance to make up more ground on Euro qualification rivals Villa and Spurs and lost ground on Liverpool.

"It will be hard to forget the game at Hull where we improved in the second half but that is what we must do and now concentrate all our energies on Bolton," De Jong told City's website. "We missed a couple of chances that might have snatched a point

"We have dropped points against some teams in the bottom half of the table and we have to make sure we are prepared for them to come at us 100 per cent.

"We are a scalp for teams now and we didn't contend with that well enough at Hull. We always try to play football but sometimes you have to win the battle first. It was good lesson. The first ten minutes of any game set the tone and make the difference."