SELIM Benachour maintains that he still wants the hotseat at Boundary Park full-time, but admits that results must improve to give him a better chance.

Latics slipped to a late defeat at home to Tranmere Rovers when they returned to League Two action on Tuesday night.

It was a bitter blow for Benachour having seen his side dominate for long periods, as well as having a first-half goal chalked off for an infringement at a corner, while Davies Keillor-Dunn was denied by the woodwork and Zak Dearnley had an effort cleared off the line.

And although Benachour was encouraged by the performance, with Latics showing real attacking intent and taking the game to Tranmere, he is mindful that points are the priority.

"Of course I want to have the job but I will be judged by results and now it's a little bit difficult because I have two losses and one win," he said Benachour, who stepped up from the Academy to become interim head coach following Keith Curle's departure over a fortnight ago.

"I need to keep working, me and my staff, and change the results.

"I am caretaker.

"I try to help the club. I'm here until they tell me differently."

But Benachour is enthused by the response he has had from the players in absorbing new tactics and techniques and putting them into practice.

"We try to bring some new things and I think the players like it, they enjoy it, and we can see on the pitch they are very free to play," he continued.

"I think we see small changes in a short time.

"We showed a lot of good patterns, a lot of good football, we had some chances in the first half and we scored a goal that, for me, it's unbelievable that they cancelled it.

"I feel sorry for the players, they gave everything. We hit the bar, we had chances from Zak in the second half, we had chances from Davies in the first half. We created chances but we were not efficient in the final third, we can do better. But we need to keep faith and keep working and bounce back quickly."

He added: "I feel sorry for them, they gave everything.

"We are heading in the right direction. We showed a lot of desire and we had a lot of chances.

"I'm sure playing like that it will bring points."

Of his first home game in interim charge Benachour said: "I didn't enjoy it because we lost but we showed a lot of quality. It's just conceding last minute goals and silly mistakes.

"We need to bounce back. I have players who will respond on Saturday."