CITY playmaker Josh Cullen insists he can deal with being a marked man.

Cullen was on the receiving end of some tough tackles from Phil Parkinson's Bolton on Saturday.

Parkinson accused his former club of going to ground too easily after his first reunion with the Bantams ended in a goalless draw.

Yet Cullen said he expected an aggressive approach from the hosts – and saw it as a back-handed compliment for how City are trying to play.

He said: "When we are trying to play the football as we are, teams are going to try and put us out of our rhythm and disturb us. Maybe that is the way they are going to go about it.

"We have just got to be good enough and brave enough to keep our heads and be one step above that and make sure we keep sticking to what we believe in.

"We have got to expect that – but we have got players that can out-battle and out-play teams, so I am sure people are going to find it difficult to pin one thing that is going to upset us.

"If they want to have a battle, then we are more than happy to do that."

Stuart McCall feared Cullen might have to come off after an early lunge from Jay Spearing that earned the Bolton skipper the first of their four yellow cards.

Cullen did not feel he was deliberately targeted by a player who has been booked six times already this season.

He said: "My eyes were on the ball and I have gone and won it. It was a little bit late but I don't think there was any sort of malice in it.

"I don't think he went out to hurt me or anything, so probably a yellow card was fair.

"That is what I have come to expect. It is not always going to be easy and people are not going to let you get on the ball and they are going to try and ruffle your feathers a bit.

"I have had it plenty of times before and it is just one of those things that you just have to rise above.

"Don't lose your head because that might be what they are after as well; for you to flick out and get yourself sent off. That's the game but we are a disciplined bunch."

Parkinson, who did not acknowledge the 4,300 travelling support, felt City were "milking" some of the challenges and thought that cost them a late penalty when Mark Marshall was booked for diving.

"I felt from the first whistle they were throwing themselves to the floor and it's frustrating," said the former Bantams boss.

"Marshall threw himself to the floor to try and get a pen. I said to their assistant 'if you hadn't been diving all afternoon, you might have got it'.

"It was a theme running through the game. Every time there was a challenge, there was a Bradford player rolling on the floor."

These comments riled McCall, who hit back: "I think that's hugely unfair.

"I was a midfield player, so I won't whinge about the physical aspect, but some of the challenges on Cullen were poor.

"There wasn't any play-acting. We don't want to play-act or waste time."