Leighton McIntosh has challenged Cove Rangers to respond to the first setback of their league season.
Cove were beaten 1-0 by Falkirk on Saturday but took pride in their performance against full-time opponents.
Paul Hartley’s side had won all four league games prior to that and were four points clear at the top of the table.
That lead has been cut to a point, with Falkirk able to go above Cove tonight when they face Dumbarton.
Cove have the opportunity to reset against Airdrieonians next weekend – another full-time opponent – and McIntosh wants them to channel the frustration of this defeat into the next performance.
He said: “We just need to respond to that. We’ve started the season brilliantly, won our first four games but it’s very rare we’re going to do that through the whole season.
“It’s a bit of a mental challenge to come back from getting beat. There’s a lot of experienced boys here, so we just need to keep a mature attitude and not get too low.
“We can take that frustration and determination into the next game.”
The visitors created numerous chances at the Falkirk Stadium but were undone by Callumn Morrison’s strike four minutes into the second half.
Former Peterhead and Dundee striker McIntosh had a late chance to level, with his low shot going agonisingly wide of the far post.
McIntosh added: “We played well, made chances, switched off once and that cost us for the goal. It’s disappointing that we didn’t take anything from it but performance-wise we can’t be too disappointed.
“I thought I caught the chance well. It goes through your head a split-second before you hit it – do I lash it or do I control it? – and I controlled it, kept it low. It just went the other side of the post. Nine times out of 10 they nestle in the corner.
“If we’d gone there and got battered, we’d be a lot more down. But it could have gone either way. I felt they were very direct and if we’d managed to get that goal before them, we maybe would have killed them off.”