The U’s had fought back twice to make it 2-2, but in the sixth minute of stoppage time, Vaulks played a casual back pass which allowed Haji Wright to run through on goal and round Jamie Cumming before finding the net.
It was a bitter blow for United, and of course for Vaulks, who had again caught the eye with his battling qualities and tenacity in the middle of the park
U’s head coach Buckingham said: “It’s one mistake. It won’t determine the outcome of our season, it’s one game.
“We want players to be brave and play a certain way. Maybe at certain times, we need to put that somewhere else other than where we put it.
“I think that’s the frustrating thing. We’d done so well, and we actually gifted them the goal. That’s more the frustration.
“It’s about keeping your head up and being proud of your performance, so that’s the message that was passed on.”
Vaulks was United’s first addition of the summer transfer window, arriving in June from Sheffield Wednesday on a free transfer after his Owls contract expired.
Jamie Cumming started in goal behind a back four of Sam Long, Elliott Moore, Ciaron Brown and Joe Bennett.
Vaulks, Cameron Brannagan and Ruben Rodrigues were the midfield three with Przemyslaw Placheta, Tyler Goodrham and Mark Harris as the front trio.
Matt Phillips and Idris El Mizouni came on after impressing in the Carabao Cup win over Peterborough before Louie Sibley entered the field and Dane Scarlett made his U’s debut late on.
This is almost two parts under one section, as the U’s showed resilience in a couple of ways.
Firstly, Buckingham has said that he wants his team to play with an identity. That takes courage, having gone up a league and going away to a team that will be tipped by many to secure a top-six finish.
But despite that, that’s exactly what the U’s did. Free-flowing, attacking-minded football was what Oxford did over the course of the game, and it worked for the most part.
The other section to this is resilience to come from behind twice. The Ricoh was bouncing with over 28,000 fans in the stadium, and it could have been easy for the U’s to drop their heads when they conceded, but they stuck to the game plan and fully deserved two equalisers in the game.
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