A slow start ensured the Blues gave themselves a mountain to climb at the Britannia Stadium, conceding two goals within the first 15 minutes.
Despite having 75 minutes to respond, the visitors failed to do so and, although injuries and conditions played a part, the shot-stopper insisted nothing but his side’s performance was to blame.
He reflected: “It was a disappointing start and we couldn’t recover from it. We didn’t play well.
“Conditions were tough but that’s English football - I said before the game: no-one would be able to walk off the pitch with an excuse.
“It’s not like the wind got up four seconds before kick-off - we knew what we were coming into and Stoke knew what they were coming in to.
“A few of the lads are feeling it from the amount of games we’re playing but that’s not an excuse.
“They played better than us and deserved to beat us.”
When asked whether the Blues missed the leadership of their skipper, Hart replied: “It would be tough on the boys that have played to say that.
“We’ve got a great squad and Vinny is a massive part of it but Nico, Martin and Manga are good centre-halves.
“It’s been a tough day and after a 2-0 loss, it’s probably easy to say [we missed the captain] but we’ll stick together as a squad, work for each other and get through this.
“At the level we’re playing at, we need to turn out performances of 7/10 at least every week and rely on some players to produce 8s and 9s.
“That’s how we should be playing and we’re not. Credit to Stoke - I thought they deserved to win.”
City face Borussia Monchengladbach in their next home game, at 7.45pm on Tuesday 8 December. Tickets are on sale and are priced from just £5 for Under 16s and £20 for adults. Secure your seat now.
