Aside from a spell at the start of the second half we were awful. The passing game lost us the first goal and we continued to make stupid mistakes and decisions. For some reason we always need to take at least one more pass or touch than seems necessary, allowing the opposition to get behind the ball and thwart us. St Johnstone looked far more dangerous when they attacked and could have had a few more than they finally did.
Anyone still silly enough to think we had a chance of making the top six before today will now realise that is a pipe dream. The problem now is making sure we don't get sucked into some sort of relegation battle and try to finish as high up the table as we can. Before that we have to ensure we get a win on Wednesday against Hearts - or at least put in a good performance.
Sadly it was a return to a rather small strike force for the Buddies today, injury meaning Steven Thompson was only able to make it as far as the bench. That meant Dougie Imrie returned to the side, joining the similarly diminutive Paul McGowan and Nigel Hasselbaink up top. On the plus side we had Marc McAusland back and he slotted into defence, Jim Goodwin moving to midfield and Kenny McLean missing out through injury. Saintees top scorer Francisco Sandaza was the sole out and out striker for the visitors, although Lee Croft and Murray Davidson were capable of goals - and Jody Morris would no doubt pull the strings.
Any fears that Croft might have come alone vanished a few minutes before kick-off when his rather attractive missus appeared in the directors' box. Unfortunately, Mrs TOWIE was on her feet inside two minutes thanks to some shocking Saints defending. David van Zanten tried to knock the ball back to McAusland but was hopelessly off target. The big defender seemed to have recovered things by cutting out the ball before it got to Sandaza but he had no say in where it went. Unfortunately it went straight to Croft who took a touch, steadied himself then fired in a shot from 25 yards that skipped across the turf and flew past Craig Samson into the bottom corner. The goalie and McAusland had no chance - that one was all down to Vanzy's bad pass.
Things couldn't get much worse but they almost did moments later when Lee Mair got booked for fouling Sandaza and Liam Craig's free-kick almost squirmed under Samson. Our first shot came through Nigel Hasselbaink and shouldn’t have troubled Alan Mannus, although he did his best to spill it. The bookings were levelled up when Hasselbaink was flattened by David McCracken, the Saintees then going in front after a shocker on Imrie by Frazer Wright.
We had plenty of the ball but couldn't do anything constructive with it, often taking a pass or two too many and allowing the Saintees to get men behind the ball. As a result we had to shoot from a bit further out, Graham Carey, Steven Thomson and Paul McGowan all trying their luck and all firing over. The Saintees weren't faring much better but at least found the target when Samson palmed behind Chris Millar's low shot.
We were being treated (if that's the right word) to ridiculous officiating - clear fouls by both teams going unpunished while legal challenges were penalised. More proof of their ineptitude came following a rare Saints chance - Imrie collecting the ball and running forward before seeing his shot go narrowly wide. Mannus may have got a touch but ref Bobby Madden stared at his linesman for a good 10 seconds - both waiting on the other to signal first. Eventually they gave a goal kick. Next time we did have a corner when Gary Teale's shot was deflected wide but it came to nothing.
Morris got clattered by Goodwin early in the second half, earning the Saints skipper a booking. The free-kick was only half cleared before Craig produced a volley that almost dipped in. We then, finally, managed to make a chance - although even then it wasn't a great one, Hasselbaink opting to shoot and posing Mannus no real problems. McGowan at least made him work when he had a go from a silly looking distance, the goalie letting the ball drop from his grasp before clutching it.
A switch to a back three at the break seemed to have woken us up as we were suddenly getting the ball in dangerous areas. However, in a bid to find that equaliser we were running the risk of going two down. It should have happened when Thomson needlessly gave the ball away and Davidson suddenly found himself through. He elected to pass to Sandaza who fluffed his lines just enough to allow Samson to gather the danger. Next up we saw Croft get in a cross that Davidson smacked towards goal and was deflected behind. No idea who it hit and neither did the officials, once again taking 10 seconds before deciding it was a goal kick. At least we had switched on to the fact Mannus was dodgy - Imrie having a go from about 30 yards that the keeper rather weakly parried away. Fortunately for him we'd switched off and weren't anticipating a rebound.
Another couple of chances came our way - Thomson trying to force home a loose ball only to see it blocked before Carey's outrageous volley flew narrowly off target. Callum Davidson, who'd picked up an injury, was replaced by Alan Maybury, while we replaced Vanzy with the attacking Hugh Murray. Err, right. We then saw McAusland booked for a rather late tackle on Craig but Sandaza kindly shot the free-kick into Samson's arms.
We hadn't learned from earlier as Murray cheaply gave away possession and allowed Davidson to send in Sandaza but again he failed to take advantage and Samson was able to keep the ball out. Samson was again the saviour moments later when we somehow gave Sandaza and Croft the space to work an opening for Davidson but thankfully the Saints keeper got enough on it to keep it out.
If we got a point it would be thanks to Samson - instead he was the reason the Saintees doubled their advantage. Craig's corner came in, Samson went up, the ball flew through his finger tips and McCracken reacted quickest to slam the ball into the net. Game over – and cruel on Samson who had been playing well. Aaron Mooy came on for Thomson but it was too little, too late. We could have played all day without scoring, Hasselbaink heading over Carey's handy cross. Probably the last person you want on the end of a cross due to his lack of height!
Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, they did. Some shocking defending allowed Davidson to flick the ball on for Sandaza and as the Saints support shouted - wrongly - for offside - the Spaniard composed himself before sliding the ball into the bottom corner. The defeat had suddenly taken on embarrassing proportions and you couldn't really complain considering the number of clear cut chances the Saintees had. We then managed to get ourselves a chance when Teale shot at Mannus but he wasn't in any trouble and we'd failed to capitalise on his apparent dodgyness.
A terrible afternoon in Paisley and we really have to improve. The wait for a league win is getting ridiculous and if we don't get a couple soon we could find ourselves in real trouble.
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