SAINTS 1 - QPR 2

And that's the only word to describe Saturday's 2-1 St Mary's defeat by QPR - crushing.

The highest crowd of the season had turned out in expectation of a winning run being extended to five matches for the first time in over a decade.

There was a good mood around the ground, but it's amazing how 90 minutes can change things.

When the final whistle went many Saints fans had already left, despite only being a goal behind. And the ones that remained walked out with their chins virtually dragging on the floor.

The disappointing result has set Saints back in the league somewhat - you shouldn't get beaten by QPR at home - though it's hardly a terminal problem, there are still 36 games left.

But to make matters worse, it was a disappointing performance.

So many fans had come along, waiting to be impressed and to be tempted back again for the next home match.

Fans love a winning team and lacklustre defeats are not the order of the day .

It will be interesting to see if this result has a temporary effect on numbers in the ground.

The great thing about football is that a win or two and things are back on track, and Saints need to remember that.

You could argue that a defeat was on the cards at some point.

Saints struggled against Plymouth a fortnight earlier but showed great patience and got a win.

They were being battered by Burnley but got let off somewhat when they were handed the advantage of playing against ten men for 75 minutes, though the result still had to be taken.

Against QPR there seemed little chance of Saints not getting a result after the first half hour.

In that time it seemed as though the game would go exactly the way everybody expected - with Saints cruising to a comfortable victory.

Jermaine Wright gave them the lead in under two minutes when his sidefooted volley from the edge of the area was deflected home.

Saints continued to play well and piled on the pressure.

Paul Jones, on his first return to St Mary's, was on good form and made stops from the recalled Gareth Bale and Rudi Skacel from set-pieces.

Rangers had only got into the game once, Kelvin Davis turning wide Martin Rowlands' shot.

But on 35 minutes they bagged themselves a goal out of nothing.

Lee Cook poked in a cross from the left, Dexter Blackstock found some space and, predictably, the ex-Saint steered his diving header into Davis' bottom left hand corner.

It was deflating, but Saints still should have had enough.

However, disaster struck five minutes later and QPR were ahead.

Davis was trying to see out an overhit through ball for a goal kick on the left side of his area.

Ray Jones decided to chase it down and, just as the ball crept to the by-line, was allowed to knick it off Davis' toe, dodge past him and then finish into an empty net from an acute angle.

Davis doesn't need to be told what went wrong - it was a disaster.

But as bad as he felt, he could have been forgiven for looking at the ten players in front of him - and the team they were playing against - and thinking they should be able to help him out and make sure his mistake was not so costly.

Sadly, they couldn't do that, not even close.

The second half was poor from Saints against a committed but at best average QPR side.

It seemed so lethargic.

Maybe it was because of the amount of games they've played recently, who knows, but it was out of character.

Saints were giving the ball away badly and lacking a leader in midfield - Inigo Idiakez was really missed. Djamel Belmadi also would have offered quality on the ball.

Jones had to make a couple of saves but as the game wore on QPR looked more likely to score.

The only bright spots came when Andrew Surman was brought on.

Even in the closing stages it wasn't as if QPR were having to hack the ball off the line or make towering headers in their own area.

There seemed no belief that Saints could come up with anything to break the visitors down - and they didn't.

Let's just hope it's an off day.

Performances make results. Saints have got a couple of results without dazzling displays and this time got caught out.

But have faith - there is enough quality to put it right and this should just be a blip in a long season.