CURTIS Davies believes Hull City have already proved to the Premier League they will not be around merely to make up the numbers this season.
Despite conceding two goals inside the first 25 minutes of their top-flight return at title-favourites Chelsea, Steve Bruce's men found a gallant second-half response in an eventual 2-0 defeat on Sunday.
As well as shackling the Blues' formidable attacking line, the Tigers also found the improvements to cause their illustrious hosts problems at Stamford Bridge.
Davies, who made his City debut on Sunday, is taking the positives from the loss and says a point has been made to those doubting their quality.
"It was always going to be tough, but we improved as the game went on and stopped the rot," Davies told the Mail.
"That will have changed people's perceptions of us. If we'd have gone and got whacked 4-0 or 5-0, people would soon start paying out on us to go down.
"But we showed a lot of character and not only did we manage to stop them, we created chances of our own. We've shown what we're about. It's a whole new ball game in the Premier League and the tempo was different to anything some of our players have faced before. Maybe we were just caught cold against a very good side."
City endured a baptism of fire on their return to the top flight after three years away, their defence pulled apart by Chelsea's free-flowing attack for much of the first half.
Goals from Oscar and Frank Lampard effectively sealed their fate but an emphatic defeat was avoided to give a new-look City side scope for optimism.
Davies said: "When you concede a penalty and two goals inside the first 25 minutes it could have been anything after that. That's tough.
"We went out in the second half with an attitude to keep our foot on the ball and look to stay in the game. Maybe that way we could have nicked one and got back into it but unfortunately we couldn't manage that.
"We've got positives to take away. It wasn't the worst day in the world."
Top-flight football now returns to East Yorkshire for the first time since May 2010 with Norwich's visit to the KC Stadium on Saturday.
It begins an inviting series of games on home soil and, with a trip to Manchester City to come seven days later, Davies admits it is imperative to take something from Chris Hughton's side.
"With all due respect, our season isn't going to be determined against teams like Chelsea and Man City away," he said.
"What matters most are the home games against teams like Norwich and making sure we put points on the board.
"When I looked at the first few fixtures and see Chelsea and Man City away in the first three games, they're just the bonus balls. Anything you get from those games would be a bonus.
"But any game at home, starting with Norwich, are where we need to collect points.
"Going into the game knowing it's Man City next and then an international break, we don't want to be still waiting for our first points. We want to get some points on the board and look to be climbing up the table."
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