Manager John Sheridan had some harsh words for his players despite extending their unbeaten run to seven games against Port Vale last night.
Sam Foley had given Port Vale the lead on the hour mark courtesy of a deflected goal, however seven minutes later, Latics equalised through Liam Kelly.
The skipper had his penalty saved but smashed home the rebound to earn Latics a draw.
However, speaking after the game, Sheridan said: “It was a difficult game played on a difficult pitch and I’m just pleased we managed to come out with something from the game.
"The work ethic was good again but it’s not all about working hard. I’ve said to some of the lads in the dressing room, whether I can blame the conditions or not I’m not sure, but I get so frustrated when I watch and how they ignore the simplest of things to make them a better player.
“You can be a great player by doing the simple things right and we ignore them a lot and make life difficult for ourselves.
“Port Vale are a good team, they are organised and get people behind the ball and Pagey has got them solid.
"We had chances, though. Aaron has had a great chance to win it for us but they also had a chance to make it 2-0. It was an even game but I didn’t enjoy the game.”
The conditions did not help either side last night, however, the manager does believe Latics can use the pitch to their advantage.
“We’ve played a lot of games and the heavy conditions doesn’t help,” he commented.
"I try not to keep going on about it but I can’t help it sometimes. I don’t want the pitch to be an excuse for us but it might end up being a good thing for us.
“We will just wait and see and we will have the answer at the end of the season.”
Despite results not going for Athletic last night, Sheridan insists he is concentrating on his own team and not those around him.
“I’ve just seen some results which you didn’t think would happen and they have so it is what it is,” he said. “We’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves and that’s all I’m going to do."
Watch the full interview on Latics PlayerHD.