Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini accused his players of being selfish after a narrow victory against Bolton.
A goal from Carlos Tevez - his 10th of the season - in the fourth minute was enough to separate the sides.
While Mancini was pleased they kept the pressure on the leaders he despaired at the number of chances that went begging.
Mario Balotelli and David Silva both saw efforts come back off the woodwork at Eastlands.
Mancini said: "You can say we had some bad luck but we must improve. Sometimes we are too selfish.
"We had maybe 15 chances to score. When you have a lot of chances you think the game is easy.
"You shoot when it is better to pass the ball. We must improve this situation. It means you can draw when you should have won by three or four goals.
"It was the same at Stoke where we deserved to win but we drew. When we have a chance we must score. If I had played today I would have scored two or three goals."
Despite his goal, which came after Gary Cahill failed to cut out a through ball from Yaya Toure, Tevez seemed ill at ease.
He picked up his fifth booking of the campaign and will miss the match against West Ham on Saturday.
So too will Aleksander Kolarov who is also banned after being dismissed by referee Andre Marriner for picking two yellow cards.
Tevez ended the game by giving Mancini an ear-bashing when he was replaced by James Milner in the final minute.
Mancini shrugged off the incident and said: "I am happy about this. I would like all players to be like Carlos and want to stay on the pitch.
"I needed a player like Mario on the pitch as he is taller than Carlos. We must continue to score when Carlos doesn't play."
Kolarov was dismissed by referee Andre Marriner after a challenge on Sam Ricketts and Mancini, who saw Kolo Toure limp off with a calf injury, added: "I did not agree with that decision. It was not right."
Bolton manager Owen Coyle was disappointed after his side's five-match unbeaten run came to an end at Eastlands.
They only had a couple of chances to score with Kevin Davies clipping a shot over the post and Ricketts seeing a free-kick from distance go over goalkeeper Joe Hart's head. However Vincent Kompany cleared the ball off the line.
Coyle said: "When you come to an elite club you do not want to be chasing the game as early as we were. It was a soft goal to concede.
"But bit by bit I felt we got into the game and were always in it. We could very easily got the equaliser.
"As much as I didn't think we got to our maximum - we didn't put enough quality ball in the box - we could have nicked a point. We showed tremendous spirit.
"Of course I am unhappy our run has ended but we will get back to work with a smile on our face next week."
