Jamie Cumming is beaten by a Myles Peart-Harris deflection for Birmingham’s first goal (Photo: Steve Daniels)

Well, as honeymoon periods go, that one was fairly brief.

It may have come as something as a shock to Matt Bloomfield to see what it looks like for an Oxford side to revert to type, and he may have expected his run of form to last slightly longer than three games, but United supporters may have been less surprised to see the side put in an ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ performance against Birmingham City on Saturday.

The sad fact is that the side has failed to win back-to-back games this season and, while Birmingham City may not have been the likeliest team against which the U’s could have turned this around, the fact is that, at home against a not great mid-table side, you’d have expected United to have put up more resistance than was on show at the Kassam Stadium.

Being brutally honest, Birmingham weren’t very good. However, they were miles better than Oxford. The visitors excelled in one-touch passing and movement off the ball, both of which were totally absent from the hapless U’s.

That might be being a bit uncharitable. For the first ten minutes of the first half, and the first and last five minutes of the second half, Oxford were the better side. However, against a team of even mid-table Championship quality, that is far too little, and United limped to a two-goal defeat with barely a murmur of dissent from the fans.

Like the players, the supporters were far too passive. In fact, from even before the game everything felt flat. Partly weather-induced, partly nerves, but considerably resignation. It felt like everyone was prepared for defeat from the start and, bar that initial ten minutes, the inevitable drop in performance levels came as no surprise.

It was the opening goal on 23 minutes that basically knocked the stuffing out of the U’s and it came from a needless challenge by Brodie Spencer. As if the booking he received wasn’t punishment enough, the shot from the set piece wasn’t dealt with and pinged into the net off Myles Peart-Harris. No blame on him, but first, the free kick was taken from totally the wrong place, and second, the ball should have been dealt with by Jamie Cumming before it hit MPH.

The fact that there were no further goals in a lacklustre first half is testament to how ineffective Birmingham were up top, rather than to United’s defensive resilience, which wasn’t much on show. Indeed, Brum could have had a second goal before they did, had it not been for a brilliant Spencer block to deny Ibrahim Osman right by the right-hand post.

For the second goal you can put your hands up and say well done, Brummies, for a well-worked team goal. Or you could look at the United defence getting torn a new one by clever movement and passive defending, with half a dozen United players standing and admiring the back heel that set up Marvin Ducksch to shoot home.

Not great, and all United had by way of a response was an Ole Romeny shot, cleverly set up by Will Lankshear, that former U’s keeper James Beadle did well to keep out.

So, basically, United got what they deserved. And it’s hard not to be critical of the new manager as much as the players. Sure, the club has plenty of injuries, included influential players like Jack Currie and Brian De Keersmaecker, as well as new signings Jamie Donley and Jeon Jin-Woo, but Birmingham, and probably most other clubs, are similarly affected by injuries.

The fact is that the three-at-the-back formation worked against Leicester because it matched their formation, whereas it failed against Birmingham because it allowed them to dominate in midfield. This was rectified at the break, when United went to a flat back four, but despite winning Player of the Season a couple of years back playing at left back, Ciaron Brown looked distinctly uncomfortable there, while Sam Long was back to the worst version of himself.

Mark Harris, who had his best game of the season at the King Power, worked hard and did what he could up top, but he was lacking support from his fellow forwards and eventually reverted to his previous ineffective self. Despite that, when he went off for Lankshear, you could feel the energy level of the whole side go down a notch.

Enough, though, of the doom and gloom. It was a bugger of a defeat but it wasn’t a disaster. United are still five points from safety and have a game in hand on both Blackburn Rovers and West Bromwich Albion, who are in freefall just above them, and Oxford still have both of those to play at home.

So, it is still in Oxford’s hands to avoid the fate that the bookies declared was inevitable at the start of the season. They just have to make sure it’s the Southampton and Leicester beating side that turns up and not the Birmingham or Swansea losing side. And now Bloomfield has seen the hand that he’s been dealt, it will come down to him to ensure the future performances are of the required calibre.

It would help, of course, if the crowd were up for it too.

UTFO

Games without a penalty: 82