GARY Rowett reckons Burton Albion's recent poor spell was among his toughest in charge of the Brewers.
Albion lost five games in six, exiting the Capital One Cup and Johnstone's Paint Trophy along the way.
A run of defeats took some of the shine off an exceptional start to the season – and for Rowett it was painful.
"The last three weeks, I could argue, have been my most difficult weeks in some ways," said the manager, who has rarely seen his side lose more than two on the spin.
"That's great because that's what it's all about – we aren't always going to have it easy, sitting near the top of the league and getting all the plaudits.
"We've got to work for a living – actually that's the wrong word, football you could argue is a hobby!
"But, seriously, we know we've got to work hard."
Albion got back to winning ways with a gutsy 2-1 win at Northampton Town on Saturday.
It was just the kind of "back to basics" approach demanded by Rowett land he will want to see more of it at home to Morecambe tomorrow (3pm)..
"You could see our reaction when the winning goal went in and our reaction at the end of the game," said the Brewers boss.
"There was huge relief because, again, we put pressure on ourselves.
"I said to the players after pre-season we've set the standard and that's our marker.
"For the first eight or nine games we lived up to that marker and were delighted with what we'd done.
"Then we came away from that for four or five games and there's no-one more disappointed than the players.
"We've had a chat with one or two of the older players this week and they've all said the same thing.
"We've made individual errors and haven't defended as well.
"But we're still trying to turn it around, even though it's only this stage of the season.
"I felt it was a big game for us and it's got us back to winning ways.
"And rather than being in a bad run of form, we've won two out of our last three in the league. That's how fickle football is going, with all the managerial changes.
"That's why I said we wouldn't get carried away with our good start.
"Alternatively, if we had a bad run, we can't get carried away with that.
"Sometimes people make more of an issue of it than we do within the four walls because they think it's an opportunity missed."
