Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell says his side dropped their standards in their 4-0 home defeat by struggling Rotherham United.
The loss was the Grecians' heaviest in the league for a year and ended a six-game unbeaten run that had seen the Grecians move up to 11th place.
It meant Caldwell's side slipped to 13th in League One, while the Millers moved out of the relegation zone.
"There's no easy games in this league," Caldwell told BBC Radio Devon.
"We knew last week against Port Vale we rode our luck in the first 20 minutes and we managed to get through that.
"If you drop the standards for any length of time at this level you will get punished, and today we weren't good enough.
"Rotherham were by far the better team, we have to accept that and we have to react in a really positive way next week and go and put another run together against Mansfield."
Having been thrashed 10-1 by Manchester City in the FA Cup, Exeter had reacted well, going unbeaten in their next three games and scoring eight goals in the process.
And Caldwell says it is important not to dwell on the latest loss after being in such good league form previously.
He said: "We were on a brilliant run, but we're in a great position, everything is in our hands, everything is there for us
"But it's another lesson that if you drop standards in any way, shape or form, myself, the staff, the players, the club, if we're 1% off it, then you get punished at this level.
"We have to learn from it – you have to dust yourself down, you have to look yourself in the mirror and say 'what can I do better, how am I going to come back stronger from this experience?'
"I'm sure we'll do that because we've done it before."
