CONFIDENCE, unlike quality, is one thing that can't be bought in football.

And while Saints look short of both at the moment, it is the former that could ultimately prove more problematic than the later.

If anybody wanted to know what life in the Championship was about, then this was it - and Saints didn't respond well.

A small, dated ground, playing a team of modest quality but with lots of heart in a tight, fight of a match.

They'd better get used to it quick because there's plenty more of it to come.

What is worrying in Saints' first two games of the season is the way in which they've played, rather than the results.

It doesn't seem as if they have shaken that wretched losing feeling, that dismal habit that was so prevalent last season.

Instead, if anything, it appears the rot has almost got worse in some of the players.

Against Luton it just seemed as if Mike Newell's side, on the opposite end of the spectrum after promotion last season, simply believed in themselves more.

Saints looked scared in possession; scared of making mistakes.

That can be the only reason the ball was pumped long from back to front so often.

Again, you got the impression that a few players didn't want to be out there.

It wasn't that there was a conscious lack of effort from the team.

More that these mental demons seem to eat away at some of them during matches and they just can't shake them.

Though on paper Saints do have better players than Luton, they do also lack some quality as well as confidence.

If chairman Rupert Lowe thought Saints would bounce back out of this division without decent investment, he must now know - after just 180 minutes of the new campaign - they won't.

More quality is required before the end of the transfer window but attracting players to a Championship club on comparatively low wages is a hard sell to say the least.

Saints probably need a defender but desperately need a wide midfielder and a 20-goal striker.

Ricardo Fuller is still settling in but doesn't look like being the man to get those sort of goals.

Kenwyne Jones has played a bit better alongside him, but ditto.

With Brett Ormerod suffering from his virus, the siren-like calls for Theo Walcott to start may become deafening.

In a mark of how far Saints have slipped, a 16-year-old probably IS the best option to give things an added dimension up front.

The midfield spent plenty of time last night watching the ball sail over their heads but, nevertheless, rarely got to grips with the game themselves.

Though there are four excellent midfielders in there, it does look very unbalanced with effectively four central players trying to cover the wide positions as well.

It is still very early days in the season, but at the moment the signs aren't good.

That sinking feeling is still there and how it's repaired is hard to say.

Saints do need to conjure up some decent signings - even if it costs a few quid more in wages than Lowe was hoping to spend.

Harry Redknapp's team should have got the better of Luton, but the Hatters were worthy winners.

Saints took the lead on 18 minutes against the run of play - Antti Niemi having already made a string of good saves - when David Prutton and Danny Higginbotham combined on the left and Matt Oakley stole into the area to slam the ball home.

It was 1-1 on 41 minutes when some neat interchange play saw Kevin Nicholls score.

But in first-half injury-time, a defensive mix-up allowed Jones to head home Rory Delap's cross for his first-ever Saints senior goal.

With an undeserved 2-1 half-time lead, you expected Saints to come out more composed, having weathered the storm and to see out the match.

Instead, they ended up losing.

Seven minutes after the re-start, Ahmet Brkovic headed home from a free-kick - worryingly similar to the number of free headers from set-pieces Saints conceded last season.

Then, in injury-time, Dennis Wise was beaten by Dean Morgan, who curled a shot into the top corner.

Redknapp, and Lowe, need to find a solution to this early crisis of confidence.

It is early days but last season proved that, when the rot sets in, it's almost impossible to shift.