FEYENOORD'S De Kuip stadium became the Hot Tub, and Saints came out of it feeling as though they had been in a sauna.

Hot they might have been, but they weren't really bothered by a Feyenoord team who won with a first-half goal from Ebi Smolarek.

Feyenoord is as far removed as it's possible to get in football from Farnborough, and if pre-season friendlies are notoriously hard to judge, a friendly against one of Europe's power-house sides is an even stickier yardstick.

Sounds obvious, but Saints won't be facing teams like Feyenoord every week in the Premiership.

What they discovered was a team at least two weeks ahead of them in fitness and in sharpness - and it showed.

Feyenoord's passing, in front of a 35,000 crowd, was that much crisper and their first touch that much surer. And it needed to be; the last thing anyone needed in the sapping Saharan heat (in which referee Temmink sensibly allowed regular drinks breaks) was to chase over-hit passes.

Feyenoord did what all good Dutch teams do - when they've got the ball, they make the pitch as big as possible with Smolarek on the left and Kalou on the right nuzzling the touchlines, stretching out Saints' back four like a washing line to allow the midfield trio of de Visser, Tomasson and Emerton to come through on the burst.

Saints started brightly but Feyenoord gradually gained the upper hand, mainly through better use of the ball when they had it.

When Saints lost possession they spent energy-sapping minutes chasing it as Feyenoord caressed it about.

The problem posed for Saints defenders was a numbers puzzle. At times they just had van Hooijdonk on his own to contend with, while Feyenoord's ability to flood men forward from midfield like water from a burst dyke meant they often had five in attack.

Feyenoord began to have some joy down the right, with the impressive Aussie Brett Emerton combining with Kalou, a real box-of-tricks.

The goal came from the right flank, although it was van Hooijdonk who fashioned the opening after Dean Richards's sloppy passed gifted the Dutchmen possession in midfield.

A heavy price was exacted as de Visser worked the ball out to van Hooijdonk, who got to the bye-line and bided his time before pulling the ball back into Smolarek's path.

Emerton knocked again down the right, with Smolarek bulleting a diving header over from his cross and Jones twice got the better of Tomasson, first getting his angle just right to force the former Newcastle striker to shoot wide when clean through, and then reacting at point-blank range to beat away his shot.

Saints had their best moments as the first half drew to a close, with Svensson again dropping more than subtle hints that he might be a good buy.

First he picked the ball up 45 yards out, lost Tomasson with a drop of the shoulder before forcing Dudek into his first action on 43 minutes.

Rory Delap's brilliant disguise on his pass found Svensson in the box, where he produced a Maradona style spin on the ball in as much space as you'd find a matchbox, before his shot was charged down.

The resulting corner was only half-cleared as far as Draper whose beautifully cushioned pass put Ripley in to hammer a shot across Dudek and against the inside of the far post.

Hardly surprisingly, the second-half was even more torpid than the first despite - or because of - the usual glut of substitutions.

Wayne Bridge galloped forward to blast in a shot which Jurek Dudrk batted away. The chance was set up, almost inevitably really, by Matt Le Tissier who crackled with one or two flashes of skill that show he is still capable of opening up any defence in a deep-lying role.

Paul Murray was caught unnecessarily late by the boot of van Hooijdonk, who beat a hasty retreat when he got the cold-fish stare from Francis Benali, who timed a last ditch tackle to perfection to deny Japanese import Shinji Ono a goal as Saints were caught under-manned looking for an equaliser.

Feyenoord had bleats for a penalty waved away when Leonardo went down under Tahar's challenge as though there was a sniper in the stands, but Lundekvam and Richards looked generally solid.