CRYSTAL Palace boss Iain Dowie admitted that life in the Premiership is a little tougher than he at first expected but is hoping his side can learn enough, and in time, to get themselves out of trouble.

"The gulf in class is bigger than we thought, but we're going to hang on in there," he said.

"We could do with a few more points, like anyone could, but there are sides who have spent a lot of money who have had some strange results today.

"We're developing, we're improving and we've not been destroyed by any teams. We've never been turned over big style and as long as there is heart and desire, I know, that if this side does go down, it's not because of a lack of guts, effort and a sheer damn stubbornness not to be beaten.

"The Premiership is a slippery ladder but other people are also finding it difficult to hold on."

Dowie, who has a reputation for frankness, knew his side did not do enough to win the game, showed a sloppy side to their defensive duties at vital times, and gave away a clear-cut penalty when El Diouf went down. Yet he still felt his side should have got something out of it.

"I can't complain about the effort and commitment we showed, but it wasn't the greatest spectacle in terms of flowing football.

"We've been passing the ball around very well of late but I don't think we imposed ourselves enough on the game. Maybe that's credit to Bolton for stopping us doing that, but our decision-making was poor; once or twice we over-ran the ball and showed a lack of concentration at vital times.

"But we had a couple of great opportunities and really should have finished one of them off."

Yet he still found some small comfort in the fact that his side had held, and matched, Wanderers for long periods of the game.

"When you come to a place like Bolton, who are high in the table, and you don't get turned over big style, then you take the positives from that.

"They play a direct style and I thought we dealt with that well, but we failed in some key elements. We worked hard on playing one or two-touch football, because we knew they would compress the game, we wanted to move the ball about quickly but we didn't do that enough.

"They are a big, powerful unit and Sam's done a great job here, so we knew it was always going to be tough. We held our own, and with luck and a fair wind we might have got something out of it.

"I thought the ref was less than even handed, though. When Diouf was brought down it was a penalty, I'm not going to beat around the bush, it was a penalty, and the referee got it wrong. But then for the rest of the game, he tried to make up for that.

"But that's not the reason why we lost the game. We lost through a moment of madness and little bit of sloppiness. One of my players was a little too deep and played them onside for the goal."