Tony Rosenberg hailed his Manchester Maccabi 1st battlers after they crashed out of the Manchester FA Sunday Cup in heartbreaking fashion.

A goal six minutes from time was enough to give Trafford FC of the Altrincham Sunday League Premier Division a place in the next round and kill off Maccabi’s hopes.

Despite playing against a side ranked above them in the competition, Rosenberg and Stuart Delmonte’s men dominated the contest but failed to find a breakthrough.

And despite seeing his side fall to an agonising defeat, Rosenberg insists he could not be more proud of his players.

“I cannot fault the lads because they were magnificent all across the park,” he said.

“It was simply a wonderful game of football and one of the best I’ve seen at this level for quite a while.

“Trafford are a very strong side and had a few players from their Saturday team involved which made it harder.

“But our players were fantastic and some of the football we played was unbelievable. If we can replicate that form in the league, then we’ll move up the table for sure.”

Both sides had chances in an exciting encounter but Maccabi’s failure to play to the whistle ultimately cost them dear.

With 84 minutes on the clock, a Trafford player tumbled theatrically inside the penalty area and with the defenders waiting for the referee to blow for a dive, Trafford took advantage to steal the win.

“We matched them for 90 minutes but in the ten seconds in which we waited for the referee to blow, we got truly punished,” said Rosenberg.

“We say it every week and it’s frustrating but we had so many chances and we need to put them away.

“When teams beat us they celebrate as if they’ve won the Champions League because they know we’ve dominated and they’ve got lucky.

“But I can’t say anything bad about our performance because they were all magnificent and I’m proud of each and every one of them.”