SOME of the Saints squad spent a few hours unwinding at a Gothenburg theme park yesterday after an intense week on the training ground.

But whether it was any less taxing than Saturday's 8-0 demolition of Asebro IF is questionable.

Physically it probably was, for Saints showed admirable commitment and professionalism in making the absolute most of a match that was little more than a training exercise.

Mentally, however, you would have to conclude that even the tamest roller-coaster would provoke far greater fear than the Swedish part-timers who were offered up as cannon-fodder.

Apparently the great Hungarian sides of Puskas etc used to regularly train with local factory teams.

Not for the thrill of giving someone a good hiding, but to establish and fine-tune their patterns of play in preparation for bigger tests. For Saints, this was a similar exercise. To their credit they made the absolute most of it as several key areas got a good oiling.

Compared to Wednesday's 1-0 win over GAIS, the most pleasing aspect was seeing some natural width on the left with Jelle Van Damme and Graeme Le Saux sharing the left-back duties and Neil McCann given his chance in midfield.

This guaranteed a regular supply of decent crosses from both wings, although McCann didn't really take the game by the scruff of the neck as might have been hoped.

Left-midfield remains a position without a natural first-choice incumbent and it will be interesting to see if Paul Sturrock now experiments with Van Damme and Le Saux together, or whether he falls back on the likes of McCann, Marian Pahars, Anders Svensson or David Prutton.

Elsewhere, places remain up for grabs in the centre of midfield, with Prutton staking his claim with an excellent display after Matthew Oakley took the precautionary decision to come off and protect his knee in the fourth minute.

His energy alongside Rory Delap in the middle gave Saints complete control over Asebro, with Peter Crouch and Brett Ormerod providing a contrasting blend of options up front.

The floodgates opened in the eighth minute when Ormerod surged behind the Asebro defence and was fouled by Christian Falk on the edge of the box.

Jason Dodd lined up the free-kick and sent a beautifully curling effort into the top corner.

The second followed after 15 minutes when Crouch nodded down to Prutton who turned and fired home a fierce finish.

It was already target practice for Saints and, after a couple of close misses, Crouch made it 3-0 just before the half-hour mark.

Ormerod had again got behind the Asebro defence and crossed from the by-line for the £2m signing to stroke into the top right-hand corner with his left-foot.

The fourth deservedly went to Ormerod on 32 minutes when he latched on to Paul Telfer's through-ball, cut-back and slotted it in past Asebro's 17-year-old goalkeeper, Johan Dahlin.

Next up was Crouch, who showed anticipation and skill to intercept a poor back-pass and calmly round the 'keeper for 5-0 at half-time.

Le Saux came on at the interval and scored within four minutes when his free-kick following a foul on Crouch was rather tamely fluffed by Dahlin.

At 6-0, Saints then briefly took their foot off the pedal and there was a 27 minute wait until the next goal.

It coincided with the arrival of Marian Pahars, who finished at the second time of asking after his diving header from a McCann cross was saved.

Ormerod immediately made it eight when sub Leandre Griffit got clear down the right and squared to provide a simple finish.

In truth, this was not a match that proved a great deal about Saints, other than that they have a professional group of players.

Yet what it did provide was a change of scenery and a better forum than the training ground to build confidence and practice breaking down opposition defences.

For that reason alone, it was just about worth the two-hour drive from their training base in Boras.