FEELINGS among the travelling Saints support were running pretty high at the end of Sunday’s disastrous performance at Magic.

There was sustained booing and cries of players not being “fit to wear the shirt” when the team went over to take their bow to the fans.

Although barracking the team, particularly when there are young kids watching on looking bewildered, is not everyone’s cup of tea – the reaction was totally understandable coming on the back of a similar hiding a fortnight earlier.

Who can blame the 900 or so Saints fans, who had given up their whole day, and in some cases the weekend, to traipse up to the north east for voicing concerns.

Tot up the cost of travel, tickets and being out all day and you have the best part of a couple of days wages, mostly in jobs far, far less glamorous than the life of a professional sportsman and so you can understand the anger.

As unpleasant, and in some cases as counter-productive, this immediate form of judgement on the team’s performance is at least it is a much more direct and honest than the ones done in anonymity behind a keyboard.

But the outpouring of dissent coming out now is not just about not getting value for money entertainment wise or scoreboard wise.

The lives are of most die-hard fans are completely intertwined with the events at Langtree Park.

What happens on a weekend shapes the mood for the start of the week for many folk.

So when supporters who watched Saints when they were on their uppers in the early 80s – when they were lucky to scrape the top eight for several years – are losing faith then that is a worry.

The club will call for supporters to keep the faith – and they are right to make that appeal, especially when you look at the league table and Saints are still there in touch with the leading pack.

It is May, less than half way through the year, and even though it has been a far from vintage year in the red vee after a string of inconsistent displays punctuated by three or four heavy losses, there is plenty of rugby to come.

Maybe it is whistling in the dark, but Sunday’s defeat was reminiscent of the Magic shocker in 2014 which prompted then skipper Paul Wellens to read the riot act.

Nobody would have given them a prayer of going on on to win the league that year.

Will strong words and leadership be enough to salvage something from this campaign? We will see.

It is not a hopeless cause - especially as Saints do look a different side when Mark Percival and Jonny Lomax are in the team.

But aside from that, as Bradford and Leeds’ current status show, this competition gives no divine rights to maintain old orders based on history or reputation.

Reading between the lines I am sure the coach and chairman are on the case with regards to what is needed going forward, having seen some key frailties exposed this term.

It doesn't have to be an extensive shopping list, but a quality three-quarter to give a bit of balance and punch to the back line, and another big man to back up Kyle Amor and Alex Walmsley and stop that flakiness that occurs in the middle key spells of the game.

There is a fair bit of discontent and those disgruntled fans contemplating season ticket renewal will want to see evidence that the club is going to fill the deficiencies.

Although the rugby league world has clearly changed and there has been a levelling out, it does appear that the teams that have this year overtaken Saints on the table have probably recruited stronger over the past three years – Hull, Catalans and Warrington.

Saints, on the other hand, have spend a good while recovering from some poor signings from as early as 2011.

Nobody wants them to panic buy again, but given that Leeds will not have another season like 2016, Saints cannot afford to let this drift.

There are plenty of young players pushing through - the Knowleses, Wellingtons, Graces, Ashworths, Richardsons of this world will have another year to mature and will be there to slot in as and when - so let's forget about padding out the squad and focus on recruiting two or maybe three quality specialists.