THE disappointment has lingered like an almighty hangover, according to Tom Taiwo, but finally Falkirk have sobered up and got back to work.
The former Chelsea and Hibernian midfielder believes an indifferent opening to the new campaign had plenty to do with the way the last one ended. A second-place finish in the Championship and a play-off semi-final victory over Hibernian ensured it was an impressive season for Peter Houston's side, but the final defeat to Kilmarnock was painful.
With new players bedding in, Taiwo believes the Bairns temporarily forgot the formula for their success but, after some introspection and collective soul-searching, the 26-year-old is convinced they are back to their best.
John Baird's 30th-minute opener and Taiwo's clinching second 18 minutes from time halted Raith's unbeaten run and made it a hat-trick of consecutive victories to give an indication Falkirk are well on the road to recovery following a poor start of just one point from their first three matches.
"When you have such a good spell, like we did last season, and you finish second, you believe you're a good team and you believe you're good players," Taiwo explained. "And, sometimes, you forget to do the things that got you there to start with.
"But, sometimes, it's got to be ugly for 10, 15, 20 minutes and you've got to do the nasty side of the game, where you're running and tackling and chasing, and keeping to a shape.
"It might not look pretty but, as long as you can keep going, the quality can shine through, like it has done.
"That is what we lacked in the first couple of games of the season.
"We had a short break and we've almost come back with a hangover, I think, from the disappointing result [in the play-off] at the end of the season.
"We've taken our time to get over that, we know, but now we're showing a good run of form and there's no reason why we can't push on from here and push up the league."
Falkirk remain eight points behind league leaders Hibs and are three points adrift of Raith, who started Saturday in second place but dropped one in the wake of this defeat.
Gary Locke's side have proved potent in attack so far but chose the wrong moment to display a hitherto unseen bluntness and lack of imagination going forward.
Locke quipped that their excellent start had not turned them into Real Madrid and, likewise, they were now not at the other end of the scale because of one defeat, but skipper Jason Thomson admitted there must be a determination to rebound.
"It's a defeat, so it's about how we react now," he said. "We're five games in, so it's not the end of the world, but we need a reaction.
"It doesn't make us a bad team just because we've lost one game.
"There were too many players off it, but we'll not get too down about it. It's over now but it will be at the back of our minds that we'll need a performance on Saturday."
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