"In the second half we were just boring, totally and utterly boring," Strachan said.

"It wasn't football, lacking ability, lacking running about, lacking enthusiasm.

"It wasn't a great day to watch football. But it was a good day to get a bit of tan, it was nice and sunny."

Saints were pretty poor to be honest by the high standards they set for themselves. Jones was great with his reflex saves, but looked shaky at crosses. Dodd provided no overlapping support for Fernandes, forcing the Frenchman into his usual obvious tricks.

On the left at least Le Saux had an excellent game, even if he was lucky to stay on the pitch. Ahead of him, Neil McCann was ineffective and it was no surprise to see him taken off.

There was a definite lack of communication in the centre in the side, which resulted in very few good passing moves from the Saints. Up front Beattie was quiet and Phillips was the key man although he too had precious little service beyond Le Saux.

Not only did Saints not really do anything that warranted a win, they were very fortunate not to concede. Horsefield's shot and Morrison's one on one with Jones were direct opportunities. However, Steve Bruce was particularly incensed by his side not being awarded a penalty after a foul on David Dunn.

"They got away with murder," said Bruce. "It wasn't even a 50-50 call - it was a stonewall penalty and everyone in the ground knew it."

"David tried to stay on his feet for as long as possible and we're dumbstruck the ref missed it.

"I know refs have a difficult job, but it can't be right when they constantly miss big issues. I hate whingeing and it's pointless me arguing - it was blatant.

"I said last week that decisions even themselves up over a season, but I didn't think it would only take seven days.

"In the first half, the ref saw every foul and blew up 23 times - but he missed the most important one.

"And that's why managers kick drinks bottles, get bags under our eyes and all the rest of it."

Despite a few positives, it's clear that Gordon Strachan views Saturday as a big step backwards for his team.

"I was so disappointed I didn't have a rage at my players afterwards - I'm sulking instead.

"We didn't do anything we've built our reputation on over the last two years. We need to get back to basics.

"A lot of people didn't come up to the standards they should set themselves. But it doesn't mystify me as I've seen it with better players than these players."