THEY were streaming through the exits with 20 minutes left on the clock at Pittodrie. It had all become just too much to bear.

Well, how would you feel having a handful of St Johnstone supporters scattered around a corner of your ground, chanting ‘We Want 10’? It really cannot get much lower, particularly when there had been a body of opinion forming that your team might actually be capable of winning a first league title in three decades.

Aberdeen supporters have had their share of disappointment to handle during those 30 years of hurt, but this season looked like something different. Something special. There was a new light in the north. Even Sir Alex said so himself during a trip to the Granite City on Thursday night, praising Derek McInnes for restoring belief in the club he placed on the map so spectacularly.

Three straight losses have changed all that, bringing the need for some serious introspection. The League Cup defeat at Hibernian was hardly a problem, but the team performed poorly in losing 2-1 to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the league and this collapse to St Johnstone was really quite shocking.

Over the course of eight straight wins to start the season, Aberdeen conceded just three goals. In this encounter, they had given away three within the first half-an-hour and there was worse to come.

It is premature to say the bubble has burst, but something is going seriously wrong. Much more of this and the feelgood factor around Pittodrie will have disappeared completely. McInnes' team was jeered off the park at the interval and left in no doubt over the unhappiness of those who had bothered to stay in their seats for the final whistle.

Aberdeen conceded far too easily and failed to create enough at the other end. Of many failings, those are the two most important.

Whether through squad rotation, tiredness or an inability to deal with increasing expectation, the Red Army has been stopped dead in its tracks. McInnes really must use the international break to find out what has gone wrong before making the difficult trip to Dingwall a week on Friday.

For St Johnstone, this was just another forward step in an improving campaign. Cup success at Ibrox was followed by a win over Dundee United with 10 men and this victory confirmed that Tommy Wright has built a team in Perth that is really capable of doing things properly on its day.

If ever you are going to take it upon yourself to silence a stadium of expectant supporters, for example, it might be worth placing a call to Brian Easton for some advice. The goal that paved the way for this most comprehensive and surprising victory was really quite something.

A long throw-in from Joe Shaughnessy was headed out by Taylor and Easton met it first-time with his left foot around 20 yards out, watching it dip past Danny Ward to his left and nestle in the net.

With 10 minutes on the clock, the visitors had doubled their advantage. A ball in from the right from Simon Lappin had been flicked on by MacLean and come off the inside of goalkeeper Ward's right-hand post.

It all happened so quickly that almost everyone inside the six-yard area seemed positively shellshocked. Everyone other than Shaughnessy, that is. The Irishman, released from Pittodrie in the summer, capitalised on the uncertainty crippling so many around him to pounce from close-range and force the ball over the goal-line.

Aberdeen's reply was suitably brisk, although they did require a helping hand from the visiting goalkeeper, Zander Clark. Clark failed to deal with a simple backpass to the right of his goal and was subjected to some rather catty abuse from the crowd for allowing it to go out of play.

Their cheers must have hurt all the more, though, when Taylor rose higher than anyone to power a header from Niall McGinn's set-piece past his despairing dive.

Despite the scoreline, Aberdeen had enjoyed the lion's share of the possession and seemed destined to overcome their early setbacks. Adam Rooney saw a reflex save from Clark deny him midway through the opening period and shouted long and hard at referee Alan Muir for a penalty kick, claiming Tam Scobbie had deflected his effort from the rebound past the post with an arm.

St Johnstone can be a resilient bunch, though. Their defenders had thrown themselves in the way of everything to deny the home side and, on the half-hour, duly restored their two-goal lead.

Craig had watched a strong drive touched just wide by Ward after clever lead-up work from the intelligent MacLean. From the corner, Easton appeared to sclaff the ball into his path and his left-footed shot took a deflection to wrongfoot Ward completely and trundle into the net.

Unfortunate or not, the scoreline resulted in McInnes' side being booed off the field at the interval and the frustration within their followers was only about to become worse. Less than two minutes into the second period, Lappin delivered an excellent corner-kick from the right and MacLean produced a well-timed run to evade his marker and glance a delightful little header into the far corner.

By the time MacLean made it five on 51 minutes, disbelief had set in. He was left blissfully unmarked at the back post to connect with a Graham Cummins cross and saw his crisp header bulge the roof of the net following Ward's vain attempt to prevent this moving ever closer to a cricket score.

Saints certainly bowled us a googly all right. This was not part of the script.

Aberdeen (4-2-3-1): Ward; Logan, Taylor, Considine, Shinnie; Jack, Hayes (Wright 67); McGinn, McLean (Robson 67), Pawlett (Goodwillie 49); Rooney.

Booked: Considine (89).

Scorer: Taylor (12).

St Johnstone (4-4-2): Clark; Shaughnessy, Mackay, Scobbie, Easton; Wotherspoon (Fisher 70), Davidson, Lappin, Craig; MacLean (Hurst 82), Cummins (Sutton 74).

Booked: Davidson (65), Lappin (80).

Scorer: Easton (5), Shaughnessy (10), Craig (30), MacLean (47, 51).

Attendance: 13,405.