CHRIS Hughton says his side needs to bounce back when they host Stoke City next weekend after the 4-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon.

City’s boss is already focussing on that game at Carrow Road after four goals in 16 first half minutes against Villa cost them dearly.

“We have a home game to prepare for now on Saturday and we’re going to need to be far better than what we were against Aston Villa and we’re going to need everyone behind us,” said Hughton after the game.

“We couldn’t have started the game any better in that first 25 minutes. I thought we were excellent, we got the goal and could have got the second one, but in a 15 minute period we’ve lost the game.

“At 2-1 we’ve given away two goals that are basic goals. At that stage we had to make sure that we gathered as a team and that we dug deep because at 2-1 it still allows us to get back in it, but in that period we were nowhere near good enough and ultimately that’s lost us the game.”

Hughton admits he was disappointed the defensive solidity shown in recent weeks wasn’t demonstrated against one of the Canaries’ rivals in the battle for survival.

“What I thought I was going to get was what we’ve got in a recent weeks. We’ve certainly became more resilient over the latter part of this season, but it’s a huge blow back for us.

“The manner in which we conceded the goals is obviously a concern, even though we were up against a top class striker in the Christian Benteke.”

On the absence of Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Leroy Fer, he added: “Ricky’s was minor. He took a whack on his knee in the Tottenham game last weekend – we felt he would recover but he didn’t. We’re still assessing Leroy Fer’s hamstring injury.”

'WE NEED TO MOVE ON'

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