Bolton manager Owen Coyle lamented the 'soft goals' conceded by his team as the Canaries inflicted their third successive home defeat of the season.

Anthony Pilkington scored from a corner and Bradley Johnson from a free-kick, making it 10 goals scored against Wanderers in three home games, before Martin Petrov reduced the arrears with a second-half penalty.

'We had a fantastic home record last season,' said Coyle. 'We want to rekindle that but we've not done well enough today.

'Take nothing away from Norwich, who worked ever so hard and came with a gameplan in mind, but to concede the goals we did from two set plays certainly wasn't good enough.

'Even then with the first one, sometimes the little bit of luck you need doesn't come your way, it hit the post on the way out and hit Tuncay and rolled back in.

'Having said that, it was still only 1-0 at the time. And then the second one from the free-kick, the lad worked the opening for himself and it was an exquisite finish but there has to be some sort of pressure on the ball, some sort of challenge. We're all designated markers but we've not done well enough in that department.

'My concern is when we concede soft goals. We did it last week and we did it today. It's not as though somebody's beaten two or three men and hit one from 25 yards into the top corner, which can happen in this league. That's not happened – this has been self-inflicted.'

Ivan Klasnic's red card in first-half stoppage time damaged Bolton's chances of a fightback, said Coyle.

'I still felt even though it was 2-0 down, once we got them in at half-time we could get it sorted, but then we found ourselves down to 10 men through an act of folly from Ivan, because I think we all know the rules.

'If you lean your head into somebody as an act of aggression, whether there's contact or not - and I'd need to see it back – then there's always a chance you receive a red card from that and that's what happened.

'Full credit to the lads who battled away in the second half and worked their socks off to try to get us back in the game, but it was certainly a mountain for them to climb. They stuck at it valiantly. In the second half there was plenty of spirit, everything you want, and the keeper (John Ruddy) made a wonderful save in the last seconds of the game.'