Barr playing with a smile at Raith

Bobby Barr embarks on a trademark run between two Falkirk opponents. Pic: Fife Photo Agency

The 28-year-old winger, who made the move from Morton in the summer, says he has been given more licence to attack teams than he was at Cappielow last season.

And with a derby goal, as well as a handful of assists and man of the match awards under his belt, Barr is already making his mark at Stark’s Park.

“I’m playing with a smile on my face,” he told the Press.

“The gaffer and Jacko are always encouraging me to get forward, that’s my game, and they’ll have a go at me if I’m not getting forward enough.

“I played on the left the majority of last season as well but we were a wee bit more defensive and looked to hit teams on the counter attack.

“This season we still look to counter attack, but we want to be positive and set a marker and go and win games on the front foot.

“I’ve enjoyed my start here, and the fans have taken to me, so hopefully we can have a successful season.”

Barr’s positive performance was one of the few bright spots from Saturday as Raith lost their unbeaten league record in a 2-0 home defeat to Falkirk.

“It was disappointing,” Barr said. “It was a scrappy game and their goals are two poor goals from our point of view.

“Things just didn’t come off for us, for whatever reason, and we didn’t create much.

“We wanted to bounce back after the disappointment last week – the league is our bread and butter – but it was just a disappointing day.

“There was nothing between the teams and we got punished for two mistakes.”

Barr is hoping for a quick response against Queen of the South this Saturday.

“We’ve just got to bounce back,” he said. “We’ve nothing to fear down there, we’ll just go and try to be positive.

“There’s no point getting too disappointed.

“We’re still sitting third – which is a reasonable start to the season – and we want to be in the top four all season and see where it takes us.

“We got 10 points from the first four games but we don’t think we’re the finished article. There’s still a lot of work to do and it’s a long season.

“It’s just a wee set back and we’ll look to bounce back next week.”