Same happened to my A5 when I had it
but something I found out by my mistake......
You say "Phillips" but did you actually use a Phillips driver or is this just a generic term you guys use?
OTP, and I guess you may have the same, we have Phillips screws and "Pozi" screws. These heads come in different sizes PH1 & PH2 for Phillips and PZ1, PZ2 & PZ3 for Pozi.
The clutch and brake screws take a PZ2 bit, not a PH2
.