Lee Duxbury revealed he "expects better" from some of his reserve side after watching them lose out on a penalty shoot-out to Bury in the Manchester Senior Cup at Radcliffe on Wednesday.
Lee Hughes looked to have given his side the victory with two late goals, but Domaine Rouse hit a last-gasp leveller for the home side to force penalties. JP Kalala missed for Latics, while the Shakers scored all five attempts to win the contest.
Speaking to oldhamathletic.co.uk, Duxbury called on the second string to be more solid when defending a lead:
"We should be more professional when we're 3-2 up with two minutes to go," he said. "The way to go is to kill the game off by putting the ball in the corners and slowing things down, but we didn't do that.
"Having said that Matty Wolfenden and Aaron Chalmers did well and Danny Knight did okay, but we just need to be more professional in those last few minutes.
"I went through Bury's goals with the lads at full time, and there's a few individuals that I expect more from."
Hughes' brace was his first goals since returning from surgery on a hernia, and will fill Latics' fans with confidence in their striker after he also played a big part in Tuesday's win at Tranmere.
But Duxbury sounded a cautionary note by urging supporters to be patient with the frontman as he gets used to the pace of the professional game:
"Hughesy worked very hard, but he needs games. He was in the right place at the right time for his two goals and he took the first one particularly well -- I also think he should have had a penalty in the first half.
"He needs more reserve matches, and that was why it was disappointing when the Bradford game was called off last week [due to the FA Youth Cup tie with Wrexham on the same day].
"You can tell he's got that bit of extra quality, but it's not going to happen overnight for him; it's probably going to take another two or three months.
"The fans and the management have to be patient because Lee's been out of the game for a long period of time -- but it will be worth it."
