It’s never easy to write a report after your team has been on the wrong side of a bad defeat, and to be honest I almost didn’t bother with this one. After all, no one wants to be reminded of it and, while writing it might be cathartic, reading it will only be depressing. Nonetheless, we have an obligation to write about the club, warts and all, for those that care to read it, so let’s try and unpick what happened on Tuesday evening.

For the first time this season, Oxford United were taken to the cleaners. Stoke City were, in every aspect, better than the U’s. That’s not to say that Oxford failed to create chances, and they even had occasional spells of pressure, but the visitors were sharper, quicker, stronger, better organised and, yes, luckier than the hosts.

Oxford actually started the better side and, until the opening goal came on 10 minutes, looked quite bright. That goal was very reminiscent of Millwall’s second the previous Saturday. A shot from distance, Jamie Cumming gets down well to make the save, the ball falls for the only opposition player in the vicinity and bosh: Paul Baker scores with a tap-in.

On Saturday, United responded well to the setback of conceding an early goal. On Tuesday, there was no response. Stoke kept their fingers on the trigger and and Oxford failed to get their act together to repel the invaders. If the first goal was disappointing defending, the second was diabolical. A corner comes over and Steven Nzonzi clips the ball into the net. Too easy. It should never have been allowed to happen.

Finding themselves 2-0 down at the break, Oxford started the second half looking to get back into the game, winning an early corner. However, whatever the gameplan was, it went out of the window after just two minutes as Baker scored his second to put the game to bed.

Try as they might, Oxford were unable to break down Stoke’s defence and were always threatened by the visitors’ counter-attacks. Sure, Oxford had their moments. In the first half, Przsemysłav Płacheta went agonisingly close with a shot that went just wide of the far post. In the second half, Stan Mills – was it a cross or a shot? – forced Victor Johansson into his only meaningful save of the night, backpeddling to tip the ball over the bar.

But those moments were too few and only served to highlight how ineffective Oxford were in front of goal, snatching at shots or trying their luck from distance, with the ball usually ending up in the East Stand. Every 50-50 ball was won by the visitors as Oxford just didn’t have the rub of the green; every half-clearance (by either side) somehow ended up at the feet of a Stoke player, every ricochet went the visitors’ way. When your luck’s out, it’s really out and when that’s combined with coming up against a better side, you end up losing 3-0 and being grateful it wasn’t more.

It’s a mystery how Oxford could be so decent against Millwall one game and then so inept against Stoke the next. There wasn’t much to choose between either opponent; both were physical and used the dark arts with some success (how only three Stoke players were booked is something that only referee Leigh Doughty will understand) but it’s this inconsistency that is so frustrating.

And some Oxford supporters are starting to react; when Stoke fans sang “Gary Rowett, your football is shit”, there were quite a few United followers who joined in, until they were drowned out by others chanting “Gary Rowett’s Yellow and Blue Army”. But if this ‘pragmatic’ football continues without success, how long until the first faction become the majority?

Oxford now find themselves back in 20th place, with a fragile four-point gap between them and the relegation zone. We always knew November was going to be tough, let’s hope it’s not catastrophic.