Mark Robins has told his Stoke City players to take any criticism on the chin after a chastening defeat at Derby County ended with Sorba Thomas in a confrontation with the away end.

Stoke had been beaten 2-0 at Pride Park and dissent grew from the sell-out travelling support through the second half as they failed to muster a single shot on target.

There was a furious reaction at the final whistle and player of the year contender Thomas seemed to take exception to something that was said when he and teammates went to applaud their fans – or take their medicine. He was pulled away by Aaron Cresswell and Robins had a word in his ear before he seemed to be given a stern word from Steven Nzonzi as they made their way down the tunnel.

Robins said: “I think it was one of those situations when the players have been over to see them, I’ve been talking and I went over afterwards knowing that they are not going to be throwing flowers at us.

“If you get criticised and you don’t like it, suck it up, get on with it and make sure it doesn’t happen again. It’s as simple as that.

“It’s never nice but if you don’t like it, don’t let it happen again. You can work, you can run, you can justify playing for these supporters and you must know what it is by now to play for them and work for them. That’s something that can’t be lost on anybody and can’t creep into the performances we have left.

“Certainly today has to be a stark reminder down the coming years that this was a performance that was unacceptable. I’m talking about playing against a good side – but this was a performance that you can’t repeat.”

Supporters had been chanting about their frustration with sideways passing as the match, Stoke’s fifth successive defeat in away games, went on.

Robins added: “I think that the supporters are absolutely right. It’s totally, totally baffling that we go from a performance that was reasonable, home performance to then away from home you just think you’ve got to turn up against a team that is actually going for the play-offs whereas we were just pretending.

“We’ve got to make sure moving forward that changes. The supporters were absolutely bang right because they pay their money to come and watch and a lot of people are unhappy. It’s an emotional game. People are unhappy if you don’t put in a performance that justifies being part of the football club. That was one of those times.

“Nobody likes to be criticised and when you’re criticised these days it seems to have a real negative impact on ego and responses. Suck it up, take it on the chin, understand why they’re doing it, make sure it doesn’t happen ever again because you’re never going to be in that position again – you’re going to fight, you’re going to jump into tackles, you’re going to win those duels, you’re going to win the headers. Even if you get beat you can get beat in a way that you go down fighting.

“That just wasn’t one of those performances. It was a performance that tells me that one or two aren’t bothered about being here.”