STUART McCall was frustrated by City’s failure to take their chances in tonight’s loss at Bolton – but encouraged by the way they played.

Nathan Delfouneso’s first-half goal, after some poor defending, condemned the Bantams to a 1-0 defeat.

But McCall was left to rue a string of missed opportunities to hit back – including a Billy Clarke penalty saved by keeper Billy Crellin.

The City boss said: “I’m not daft. I will be the first to admit when performances haven’t merited anything.

“But their staff straight after the game said that we didn’t deserve that – and we didn’t.

“I was disappointed we haven’t won a game. But if you make opportunities and don’t take them, you’re not going to win games.”

Delfouneso struck after 13 minutes for Bolton, who clinched their first home win of the season.

“We gave a poor goal away through individual errors and it knocked us back a bit,” added McCall.

“It would be nice to score first – but that’s easier said than done. We gave them a lift again with a really sloppy goal.

“But I thought we started growing into it again and we had a great chance just before half-time through Cookie (Callum Cooke). He’s normally a good finisher but he snatched at it.

“But in the second half we had so many good opportunities in some good areas and played some really good football.

“The second half was really encouraging in the way we played.

“I’ve no doubts if we play in that manner, as long as we can put the ball in the back of the net, we’ll start picking up points shortly.”

Anthony O’Connor was brought down in the box by Delfouneso as City piled on the pressure. But Clarke’s weak kick was comfortably saved.

McCall said: “We’ve had opportunities to not only draw but probably win the game.

“It’s a poor penalty, there’s no getting away from it. Clarkey said that if he’d scored we’d have probably gone on to win it because they were hanging on.”

McCall also confirmed that top scorer Lee Novak is expected to be out for a while. He will go for a scan on his calf injury tomorrow.