Rooted to the bottom of the Championship and with just a single point from their opening seven games of the season, it seems as though time is running out for Nathan Jones at Stoke City.

Indeed, three league wins since taking over in January does not make for pretty reading for the former Luton boss, and with reports already suggesting that the Potters are identifying candidates to replace him, Jones' fate at the Bet365 Stadium may already be sealed.

But while his time in charge of the club has been far from impressive, it could be argued that not all of those problems this season are as a result of poor management by Jones himself.

Here, we take a look at three moments this season beyond the Stoke manager's control, that could cost him big.

Martyn Waghorn's late equaliser from the spot for Derby

Having come from a goal down to lead Derby 2-1 in the third game of the season, it looked as though Stoke were on track for their first league win of the season.

With less than 20 minutes to go, however, Derby's George Evans was brought down by Stoke summer signing Tommy Smith inside the Potters' area, with referee Tim Robinson pointing to the spot.

Up stepped Waghorn, who had missed from 12 yards against early pacesetters Swansea the week before, to fire past Jack Butland to deny Jones' side an early, confidence-boosting and momentum-building three points.

It is one of those sayings in football that when you're down the wrong end of the table, your luck is often out, and considering Waghorn's failure from the spot against Swansea the week before, that was arguably the case for Stoke here.

Jack Butland's Preston nightmare

Just four days after that draw with Derby, Stoke travelled to Deepdale to face Preston in the first midweek round of league fixtures this season.

With just that solitary point from their opening three games, Jones will have been determined to pick up that first win of the season as soon as possible.

That, however, quickly became a huge task for Stoke to achieve, as Butland let two, tame, low efforts from Daniel Johnson and Billy Bodin slip through his fingers inside the first half an hour to hand their hosts a 2-0 advantage that the Potters were never able to recover from.

Once again it seemed Jones' luck was out, with few likely to have expected the sort of performance as the one that Butland put in from such an experienced 'keeper at Premier League and international level.

Joe Allen's red card against Bristol City

Once again there was an element of self capitulation about Stoke's 2-1 defeat to Bristol City just this weekend, with one of Jones' most experienced and established options potentially costing him dearly.

Leading 1-0 thanks to an early goal from Sam Clucas, Stoke once again left themselves with plenty of work to do, after Joe Allen was shown a straight red card for a heavy, studs-up challenge on Bristol City's Josh Brownhill, forcing the Potters to play well over an hour of the game with ten men.

There can be little argument over the decision to send Allen off, and Jones will have been left questioning just what possessed the midfielder to make such a challenge.

It is perhaps little surprise therefore that Stoke's defence eventually wilted, as two second-half goals turned the game in favour of Bristol City, with Jones' lack of luck arguably summed up by the fact that it was a Tom Edwards own goal that ultimately gave the Robins all three points.