Gianfranco Zola has urged his West Ham United team to return to winning ways following their Carling Cup third-round exit at Bolton Wanderers.
In one of five all-Premier League ties at this stage of the competition, West Ham started strongly at the Reebok Stadium only to find themselves defeated 3-1 on the night.
Zavon Hines and Kieron Dyer both went close to giving the visitors an early lead. The Hammers eventually went in front through Herita Ilunga ten minutes after half-time, only for Kevin Davies to level matters with an 86th-minute header from a Matt Taylor corner - one of 21 forced by the Trotters.
Goals in each half of extra time from Gary Cahill and Johan Elmander then put paid to West Ham's chances of making the last-16. Alessandro Diamanti hit the Bolton crossbar with the score at 2-1, but it was to be the Lancastrians' night.
Zola conceded that he was disappointed to see his team lose after creating a host of clear-cut chances, but backed his players to put in an improved performance in Monday's Barclays Premier League fixture at Manchester City.
"It was a long night and also a disappointing night. It was an unexpected defeat. I didn't expect that, to be honest. I was waiting for the second goal to come at any moment. It was very disappointing.
"Finishing was one of the reasons we lost. When you build up so many opportunities, you need to obviously do better. That was it, really. When you play teams like them, you can expect in the last minute that a corner-kick can always produce something. That was a problem.
"On the other hand, we defended corner-kicks and free-kicks so well the whole evening, so I wasn't expecting that. There are moments in the game when you have to raise your attention a little more and deal with those situations better."
Zola's side will now concentrate on the league, with a trip to Eastlands for a live ESPN-televised match up next on Monday evening.
There, with the likes of Matthew Upson, Valon Behrami, Danny Gabbidon, Luis Jimenez, Junior Stanislas and Guillermo Franco all possibly set to be available for selection, the manager believes his players will rise to the occasion.
"We wanted to stay in and progress in the competition, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Never mind. We are going to make up for it in the next game.
"It's not a great moment for us, obviously, but we're playing good football and that is encouraging, so we just need to improve a few things. At least we are producing some good football."
That good football was produced by a West Ham team playing in an adventurous 4-3-3 formation, with Hines leading the line ahead of the lively Diamanti and Dyer.
"We came here to play our game and it was evident in the way we played. I don't remember a game where we created so many opportunities. That was it, really. We just need to be a little bit more precise and we will do better.
"We came here to play an open game and it's been an open game, it's as simple as that. It's just a moment when things aren't going our way, but if we keep a good attitude and try to raise our attention a bit more, we'll turn it round."