The thing is, it shouldn't have been that way today. We looked pretty good in the first half but a lapse of concentration before half time saw us go in behind. We then forgot to start the second half and were two down before we knew what had hit us. Caley Thistle should probably have been out of sight before Paul McGowan cracked in a stunning goal, but taking a point based on the second half would probably have been a bit harsh on Caley Thistle.
We created a few chances in the first half, but failed to take them. Then, despite chasing a game at home, we created sod all after the break until it was too late. Bright spots? McGowan's goal, the debut of Jamie McCluskey and Gareth Wardlaw's aerial ability.
Big improvements are needed, and fast. There's no question we're going to be in a relegation battle and at the moment we're doing nothing to dispel the pre-season predictions.
You'd have thought we might have seen some changes to the defence after the criticism Danny Lennon dished out last week but, surprisingly, we stuck with the same players. For some reason, Lennon decided the answer was to move Darren McGregor into the back (correct), David van Zanten to right midfield (hmmm) and Lee Mair to rightback (eh?). Not what I'd have gone for, but there you go. Paul McGowan returned and he took the place of Steven Robb, who, along with Garry Brady, dropped out all together. That meant places on the bench for Paul McQuade, finally free from injury, and latest signing Jamie McCluskey. Caley Thistle's main attacking threat came from Richie Foran and Adam Rooney, with our old pall Ross Tokely in defence. He was in for another afternoon of abuse, some of it coming from the new singing section. It was hardly bursting at the seems, but the away end wasn't much fuller.
Saints started reasonably well without creating anything, while Caley Thistle forced three corners in quick succession. When the third was given, it was a debatable award and Paul Gallacher booted the ball off the advertising hoardings. Result? Yellow card. Wonderful refereeing I'm sure you'll agree. Caley Thistle then lost David Proctor through injury, with Nick Ross replacing him. As he slotted into midfield he nearly scored the opener, his low shot from just outside the box beating Gallacher but not the post as it hit the upright before going out of play.
A foul on McGowan soon after gave Saints a free-kick that was diverted into the on loan Celtic man's path by Gareth Wardlaw. McGowan held on to the ball before passing it to van Zanten, whose low, drilled shot was palmed behind by Ryan Esson. An injury to Esson then saw McQuade handed his debut. It was a few weeks later than we all hoped, but it was probably an hour or so earlier than he expected! He almost managed a debut goal moments after his arrival as he lifted the ball over a Caley Thistle defender before unleashing a shot from about 25 yards that Esson did well to gather.
Bizarrely, the combination of Potter and Mair almost created the opener for us! Potter's free-kick was in the general direction of Mair and he got a cracking connection to it with his head but unfortunately it was just off target. Had it been a few inches over to the right it would have been in, as Esson was nowhere.
It looked as if Tokely would make his way into the book when his elbow collided with the face of McGowan, although in fairness to the clumping galoot it did look as if McGowan had run into him rather than him deliberately smacking him one. Amusingly, a few minutes later Wardlaw put Tokely on the ground, and again it wasn't meant. In between times the striker had just failed to get anything on a cross from Hugh Murray that would surely have resulted in a goal.
So, we'd had the better chances, been on top - you know what happens now, don't you? Yup, two minutes into stoppage time Caley Thistle won a free-kick, Saints switched off, Eric Odhiambo and Ross exchanged passes and allowed the former to place the ball past Gallacher from the edge of the box with no defenders near him. Perhaps they were all looking forward to their wine gums or pies, but it was a shocking lapse in concentration that cost us dearly. If anyone deserved to score it was us, and yet here we were behind - again.
Clearly we were still reeling from that as the second half started as Odhiambo used his pace to beat Potter (admittedly not difficult) and cut the ball back for Rooney, whose shot was deflected wide. The danger wasn't over, however, as McGregor came desperately closing to heading the ball into his own net, only for it to go wide as Mair's earlier effort had done.
But things were about to get a lot worse for Saints. When McQuade lost the ball inside the Caley Thistle half, there was still plenty of time for one of the defenders to come out and flatten Jonny Hayes. They didn't and he charged forward, played the ball through to Odhiambo and he took one touch before sending the ball over Gallacher for his and Caley Thistle's second of the afternoon. The arrival of McCluskey for his debut saw the confidence-hit McQuade moved into the middle, with Sean Lynch making way.
It made no difference as Hayes was given too much time and space to meet a Foran cross, heading against the post. There was then a surreal moment at the other end when Shuggy, of all people, was caught offside. Yes, that's really what I had to resort to for some amusement in the second half as we were that bad. At least the singing section seemed to be enjoying themselves.
You'd think being two goals down at home we might be able to have a few shots, but none appeared. At least McCluskey and willing to take people on, although his crossing was far from brilliant. Instead, it was Caley Thistle who threatened, Hayes putting a shot into the advertising boards (no booking for him oddly enough). Next it was Rooney's turn to have a go as Potter was too slow to react to a pass from Odhiambo and allowed the forward to get in front of him before he was denied by Gallacher. Potter, being a good captain, took responsibility for his mistake by pointing to other people he believed were at fault. We then had a rare treat in the form of a Saints shot when McCluskey slipped the ball out to Vanzy, but he was once again thwarted by Esson.
Things got even better a minute or two later when we got a free-kick. Caley Thistle failed to clear their lines, Potter directed it to McGowan with his head and the forward crashed a shot into the top corner from about 20 yards. Game on? Well, we began pushing a bit more but still failed to create much before Caley Thistle kindly took Odhiambo off, although that was more to deal with our attacks than anything else. Their next change saw them try to get 12 men on the park when the electronic board indicated Gil Blumenshtein would come on for their number six - who wasn't in the team! Instead they took Hayes off. Stoppage time nearly produced the equaliser when Wardlaw just failed to get anything on Travner's cross. The ball didn't go out and McQuade gathered it before firing it towards goal, only for Esson to gather it up.
That was as close as we were to come, and we can have few complaints. We just didn't turn up in the second half until there were 15 minutes left and by that time it was game over. Simply not good enough.
Someone wake me up when September ends.