"I'm very disappointed" said Tony Philliskirk on Wednesday night, after his side crashed out of the FA Youth Cup at the hands of local rivals Rochdale.

Athletic came from behind twice in the first half to go into the break level at 2-2, thanks to outstanding play from Phil McGrath, however three goals in a nightmarish 10 minutes at the start of the second half saw Athletic 5-2 down with half an hour left to play, Djeny Bembo-Leta eventually bagging an injury time consolation for the Latics.

"I think that is the fourth or fifth time we've scored 3 goals this season and still got beat, and that is obviously not good enough.

"I'll not say things about individuals but it is obvious where our problems lie, in the last month we've done a lot better defensively and I thought we had those problems alleviated, but tonight you can see they have come back with a vengeance.

"The big chance of going to Villa Park has passed the players by now and they can't really have any complaints."

Whilst not wishing to highlight individual faults Philliskirk was willing to highlight the stand out performance of 17 year old Phil McGrath, on the Latics left wing.

(Phil McGrath Against Rochdale)
Rochdale wearing Latics' yellow strip following a kit-mixup

"Philli, to be fair, hasn't played or even trained for 5 or 6 weeks now" explained Philliskirk, "he had a double hernia operation just a couple of weeks ago and we asked him if he thought he could get through the game and so his performance is even more impressive.

"The weather was so bad yesterday we couldn't even train then and so he's really had no preparation at all."

McGrath has made several appearances for the Lee Duxbury's reserves this season and been included in a match day squad by boss Dave Penney and impressed throughout the tie.

He put Latics level for the first time when he gambled on a shot from the Latics right to comfortably tap in a rebound; however his second was far from a tap in.

McGrath picked up a loose ball just inside the 'Dale half before beating one man and lashing an unstoppable right footed drive low into the bottom corner from almost 30 yards out.

Philliskirk explained how his prominent rise through the Latics ranks is even more impressive given the bad luck he's had: "Phil's had a real stop start time since he arrived here and has been really unlucky with injuries. When he has played - and I know the senior staff like him as well - he's direct and has two good feet.

"He just needs to manage his game a bit better - when to run, when to stop or pass - but the boy is only 17 years old and has done really well so far."

McGrath's performance, however, could not conceal the fact that Rochdale were much better than their hosts for long periods of the game, Philliskirk willing to admit as much.

(Richard Cowan Shows His Frustration)

"Sometimes you learn a lot about the lads on the bigger stage" he said, "who can perform and who can't. These games are valuable from a coaching point of view and the Manager and Martin, the Assistant, are here watching who did and didn't perform - in an important game - and hopefully he'll have seen one or two positives tonight.

"But if 6 or 7 players are having off days and their direct opponent is better than them then you'll never win the game."

Athletic's young squad has had a turbulent few days, however Philliskirk was not willing to lay blame for the defeat at anything other than him and his squad.

"Anything that could go wrong has gone wrong" he admitted, "But I make no excuses, we were beaten by a better team.

"Kirk Millar has ruptured his ankle ligaments, Tom Eaves has been sick all week and not eaten or even drank for three days, Djeny has got off the treatment table to play (he was carried off at weekend) Phil's not trained, I could go on!

(Bembo-Leta Playing Through The Pain)

"And to top that off we have had some discipline problems too - I'll not elaborate - with one or two things that's gone on.

"It's been a trying 48 hours! - But the bottom line is we have 11-on-11 on the pitch and we have no excuses. We've scored three goals at home and should win the game.

The off field problems are nothing new to the experienced Philliskirk, who closed by saying "I'm in my 11th year here now - it's happened once or twice before, and I know how to deal with it and will deal with it.

"You have young 16 or 17 year old boys and you always run the risk of one or two problems. They'll be dealt with internally and we'll move on."

Latics youngsters are next in action at home to Bury in the Lancashire FA Youth Cup on Saturday, November 28th, kick off at 11am.