Report by Dave Seddon - Wigan Evening Post

THE new soccer term dawned brightly for Wigan Athletic as they taught Second Division a lesson in football.

Latics started the game as 4-1 title favourites and Scunthorpe as 66-1 rank outsiders, and it wasn't difficult to see why the bookies have ranked the sides poles apart.

The gulf in class was obvious, and once Simon Haworth gave Latics the lead to earn the honour of scoring the first League goal at the JJB Stadium, their was no looking back.

Their passing was neat and crisp, the defence rock solid, while the attack caused problems for the visitors' defence throughout.

A penalty from Stuart Barlow and a wonderful second goal for Haworth capped off a pleasing afternoon's work, leaving Scunthorpe boss Brian Laws to admit he was glad his side didn't have to face Latics every week!

To be fair to Scunthorpe, there is a huge difference between the Second and Third Divisions, as Latics themselves found out two years ago.

It was a point not lost on manager John Benson, who said: "It is a big gap between the third and second as we found out when we came up, and we strolled out as champions.

"We came into the Second Division thinking it would be quite easy, bought a couple of players, but we struggled.

"It was only after we signed Stuart Barlow and Rob Newman on loan that we turned the corner."

Two years on, Latics have come on leaps and bounds, and looked so strong on Saturday.

Benson plumped for a 4-3-3 formation, with Michael O'Neill, Darren Sheridan and Ian Kilford anchoring the midfield, behind last season's strike force of Andy Liddell, Haworth and Barlow.

The manager admitted that in the early weeks of pre-season he had wanted to play a 4-4-2.

He said "My intention was to play a 4-4-2 and we started the pre-season games playing that way.

"But the balance never looked right to me, so the coaching staff and I sat down to talk things through.

"We thought that we had a lot of joy last season playing three up front, and we were always going to play three in the middle of the park, anyway.

"Barlow had been left out earlier on, but he scored 20 odd goals last year so we thought we'd throw him back in."

Latics started brightly, determined to find the back of the net early on after firing blanks in the stadium's two warm up matches against Morecambe and Manchester United.

Haworth headed just over the top from Barlow's cross in the second minute, while Barlow poked a low shot wide six minutes later.

But they finally struck gold in the 14th minute, O'Neill lifting a delightful pass over the top of the Scunthorpe defence for HAWORTH to run on to and plant a firm shot past keeper Tom Evans from15 yards.

Scunthorpe rallied briefly, with Alex Calvo-Garcia firing a 20-yard shot just wide, but in truth it was their only chance of any note during the first half.

Latics almost doubled their lead in the 34th minute when Sheridan's stinging drive from outside the box was  parried by Evans, who also blocked Haworth's follow-up shot.

Then on the stroke of half-time, Haworth curled a free kick inches past the near post and into the side-netting.

Scunthorpe's bustling striker John Gayle earned himself the dubious distinction of receiving the first yellow card in the new stadium eight minutes after the interval for a challenge on Mark Bowen.

Within three minutes Latics increased their advantage when Barlow's pass sent Kilford clear in the area, but the midfielder was bundled over by Chris Hope as he shaped to shoot.

Referee Andy Hall had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, and up stepped up BARLOW to send Evans the wrong way with a confident finish.

Latics kept up the pressure with Haworth hitting the inside of the post with an acrobatic, close range, over-head kick from Barlow's cross.

But he wasn't to be denied  in the 73rd minute when he found the the net to wrap up the win.

A pass from Liddell found HAWORTH with his back to goal on the left-hand-side of the area.

Quick as a flash he turned his marker and curled a right-foot shot over the keeper and into the far top corner.

It was a finish of pure class, worthy of winning any game.

Scunthorpe rallied briefly in the closing stages, and with 13 minutes left substitute Lee Marshall latched onto a through ball over Latics' defence, chipped over the advancing Roy Carroll, but Stuart Balmer got back to clear off the line.

Haworth should have had a hat-trick in the 83rd minute but fired high over the bar after being sent clear.

Overall, it was a good afternoon for Latics and the victory was enough to put them top of the division.

Of course, a league table published after only one match is ridiculous with another 271 days to go until the end of the season!

It's on May 6 that positions count.