If only the PFA hadn't called off the proposed strike for this weekend, a lot of misery would have been spared!

The small band of travelling fans could have stayed home in the warm instead of suffering and shivering through another desperately disappointing defeat.

Even if they had not wiped out the fixtures but just banned the cameras, it might have helped. Saints never seem to do well on live television.

Come to think of it, some of the highlights programmes have not been too clever either.

The trouble with television is there are too many damned repeats - and this was yet another.

Of the team's ten league defeats this season, six have been 2-0 - and have followed pretty much the same pattern.

Saints generally get on top but fail to make their possession count and are forced to pay for missing chances when they go behind.

They then chase the game and get caught on the break late on. And that's exactly how it was again.

You have to question the decision to screen this game since the plot is all too predictable - and there never seems to be a happy twist at the end.

Once they go behind, Saints do not have enough conviction or impetus or cutting edge to come back.

Saints have now lost two games more than any other team in the division - and this latest setback was made worse by the knowledge that they could - and perhaps should - have won.

Certainly you could not argue against the result overall - but the fact is the game was there for the taking.

Gordon Strachan's men dominated the first half. They had most of the possession and keeper Paul Jones had just one easy save to make.

They also carved out two great opportunities. Paul Telfer's 20-yard blast produced a terrific fingertip save, albeit at a nice height.

From the resulting corner, Claus Lundekvam's first-time sweep from ten yards was superbly tipped over.

So complete was the visitors' control that that toothless Everton were booed off at half-time.

Without their two first-choice strikers, they were forced to play defender Steve Watson up front and so looked woefully short of ideas and initiative.

That all changed with the interval introduction of Paul Gascoigne and Mark Pembridge. With Gary Nayswmith switching to left-back, it gave the midfield a much sharper edge.

The appearance of Gazza lifted the crowd and therefore the team.

But the biggest lift came from the early breakthrough just four minutes after the re-start.

Typically, it began with a Saints attack. Chris Marsden's cross was too deep for Paul Telfer and Pembridge cleared to Watson in the centre circle.

He swept wide first-time to Tomasz Radzinski, who had got in behind Jason Dodd after he had pushed forward to help the attack.

Paul Williams was slow to get across, leaving the little striker room to cut in and steer past the unprotected Jones into the bottom far corner.

Goodison was transformed and so were Everton, who built up a head of steam, inspired by Gascoigne showing he has lost none of his ability even if the legs do not carry him as far or as fast as he would now like these days.

They did however carry him past Wayne Bridge and into the box for a shot which Jones beat away well to deny him a trademark goal.

And they sent him darting through the inside left channel only to go down under a challenge from behind by Dodd, who was relieved not to concede a penalty.

Jones made a other fine stop from Radzinski after Thomas Gravesen had muscled Matt Oakley off the ball in midfield.

Gravesen, anonymous in the first half, was now causing big problems. And he squandered two golden chances.

The first saw him lift the ball delicately over Jones when in space to the right of goal but Bridge got back well to nod off the line.

Four minutes later and in an almost identical position, he opted for power but slashed wide.

However, he almost immediately redeemed himself at the other end when he was on hand to block Anders Svensson's header on the line.

Steve Simonsen was beaten but Gravesen's midriff took the full force, although there was a suspicion it may have caught one of his hands either side of the ball.

With no strikers charging in hard, he was able to shepherd the ball on the line for the keeper to retrieve just before it crossed.

Encouraged by that, Saints thrust forward with increasing desperation, although even their 4-3-3 formation did not give them the fluidity of movement they needed to unhinge a solid defence.

There was little penetration from the midfield and no unpredictable darting runs. It was all one dimensional and easy for Everton to mop up.

And, true to form, Saints were then caught on the break again. Watson swept out to Gravesen on the right and his cross was slid home by the unmarked Pembridge to complete a miserable day.