Report by SJG

FRIENDLY

WIGAN ATHLETIC vs PRESTON NORTH END

 30^th July 2021

FINAL DRESS REHEARSAL AND LATICS LOOKING STRONG.

Latics maintain 100% Pre-Season record with 3-2 victory over Sky Bet Championship side Preston North End at the DW Stadium.

Latics produced an excellent performance to conclude their pre-season schedule with a 100% record as goals from Will Keane, Stephen Humphrys and Callum Lang sealed a 3-2 win over Preston North End at the DW Stadium on Friday evening.

Tendayi Darikwa was unfortunate to fire into his own net shortly after the restart to cancel out Keane’s opener and Joe Rodwell-Grant scored late on for the Sky Bet Championship visitors, with Latics following up their win over second tier Stoke City on Tuesday evening with another impressive showing.

Latics goalkeeper Ben Amos – on his first appearance in front of a DW Stadium crowd – was forced into an early save as he acrobatically denied Jamie Thomas, who volleyed towards goal from Josh Harrop’s cross. The volley may well have taken a deflection on the way through and the early save was greeted with encouraging applause from Latics supporters.

As the quarter-hour mark passed, the visitors created another opening after Luke Robinson shut-down a Scott Sinclair cross from the right to concede a corner, which Harrop delivered for Patrick Bauer to head across goal from the back post towards Josh Earl, who headed over.

Latics began to exert their first spell of pressure on the Preston goal shortly after as a marauding run from centre back Adam Long on the left side concluded with a deep cross from the academy graduate, which was met by Charlie Wyke, who saw his header deflected behind. Latics then had a couple of successive corners, the latter of which saw Keane head over a difficult chance at the back post.

The opener for Leam Richardson’s side came just before the half hour mark following a lovely passage of play as Max Power fired a pass out to Tendayi Darikwa on the right side, with the full back driving ten yards with the ball before cutting back for Keane, who produced a superb first-time finish to leave Matthew Hudson in the Preston goal with no chance.

Within a minute, Latics almost had a second as the Trialist fielded from the start forced a smart save from Hudson after breaking from midfield.

The goal and good energy surrounding the DW flowed onto the pitch as Latics went in search of a second before half-time with Luke Robinson cutting inside from the left and firing a smart right-footed shot low to Hudson’s left, which needed saving.

Five minutes before half-time, Preston had a flurry of efforts to equalise, though the impressive Amos was on hand to keep the visitors at bay, denying low efforts from both Harrop and Thomas before Darikwa cleared the loose ball.

Half Time; Wigan Athletic 1-0 Preston North End.

Three minutes after the restart, the visitors drew level as Sinclair crossed from the right towards the back post where Darikwa fired into his own net under pressure from Sepp van den Berg in an unfortunate moment for the full back.

van den Berg was a threat from a set-piece moments after Preston’s leveller too as he forced another strong save from Amos, who tipped a good header from the Dutch defender behind for a corner.

Latics were back in front within six minutes, though as a cross from the left pinballed around the penalty area before Humphrys volleyed home from close range to grab his third goal in five pre-season matches.

A third for Richardson’s side came from the right boot of Lang after the forward was fouled after breaking from midfield. Following up his goal against Stoke City on Tuesday, Lang picked himself up to wonderfully curl home from 25 yards.

While Preston had a couple of moments in Latics’ final third, efforts were mainly restricted to outside of Amos’ penalty area, with Latics going closest to the game’s fifth goal as Lang saw a 25-yard effort deflected onto the crossbar five minutes from time.

The visitors did get a goal back three minutes from time as Rodwell-Grant latched onto Tom Bayliss’ through ball before finishing past Amos, who almost kept the effort out.

Earl headed a late Preston corner over as Latics saw the game out with eight academy graduates on the pitch, following the late introductions of Scott Smith, Harry McHugh, Tom Costello and Kieran Lloyd.

Full Time; Wigan Athletic 3-2 Preston North End.

Scorers; Keane (26), Humphrys (56), Lang (68); Darikwa (OG,48), Rodwell-Grant (86);

Attendance; 2,800 (estimated)

Wigan Athletic (4-2-3-1) --- Amos (G); Darikwa, Whatmough, Long, Robinson; Naylor, Power; Trialist, Keane, Humphrys; Wyke; Subs---Trialist (for Darikwa), Aasgaard (for Whatmough), S. Smith (for Long), McHugh (for Naylor), Costello (for Power), Lang (for Trialist), Massey (for Keane), Carragher (for Humphrys), Lloyd (for Wyke), J. Jones (G)\.

Preston North End (4-4-2) Hudson (G); Rafferty, Van Berg, Bauer, Earl; Browne, Bayliss, Harrop, Thomas; Sinclair, Maguire; Subs---Leigh (for Browne), Rodwell-Grant (for Thomas), Ripley, O’Neill, Walker, Williams, Seary, Nevin;

Referee; Mr. Darren Bond (Lancashire)