Wigan start pre-season off with a win at Oldham

Wigan Athletic began pre-season with a 2-1 win over Oldham Athletic in a behind closed doors friendly at Boundary Park

First half goals from Gwion Edwards and Callum Lang were enough for the League One side to open their pre-season account with a win, despite Hallam Hope pulling a goal back.

Leam Richardson named six of his nine new signings in a strong starting line-up, and it was one of the new arrivals who fired Wigan into an early lead inside 10 minutes.

Wigan worked the ball into the area before Lang’s back heel found Stephen Humphrys, and his squared pass across goal found an unmarked Edwards who smashed the ball past the Oldham keeper.

Wigan doubled their lead five minutes later when a goalkeeping error was punished by Lang. A long range free kick from Humphrys bounced in front of the trialist keeper, and his fumble fell into the path of the Wigan striker who made no mistake in scoring.

Despite being 2-0 down after 15 minutes, Oldham began to grow in confidence and in doing so, asserted more pressure to a Wigan defence who had yet to be troubled in the first half an hour.

A fine passing move from the League Two side saw the ball worked out to the right, before an inch perfect cross was met with a bullet header from Hope who left Ben Amos with no chance between the sticks.

The former Everton Academy graduate, who recorded nine goal contributions in League One last season, has the task of filling the boots of Conor McAleny who departed the club for Salford City upon the expiry of his contract.

McAleny finished as Oldham’s top scorer last season (17), but in his absence, the pressure for goals now falls onto the shoulders of Hope who showed today he is more than capable of finding the back of the net.

Oldham gained confidence and having just scored, Hope almost added a second minutes before half time. The forward unleashed an effort from long range which forced Amos into an excellent stop to ensure his side held the lead at the break.

Wigan made eight changes at the start of the second half which saw a debut for Charlie Wyke, and 45 minutes for highly rated defender James Carragher, son of Jamie.

The hosts started the second half the better of the two sides as they continued to control play, although in attack they struggled to cause any threat to a well organised Wigan defence.

Despite their lack of possession, Wigan went close to adding a third with their first chance of the half. Tom Pearce’s free kick from the edge of the box narrowly went wide of the post, much to the relief of the Oldham keeper who was beaten.

Pearce’s driving run into the box set up another shooting chance for the defender, however his right footed effort curled high over the bar.

Wigan almost sealed victory at the death but this time Tom Costello saw his effort from the edge of the box cannon back off the underside of the crossbar.

With the final chance of the game, Oldham created half a chance to clinch an equaliser, however, after cutting inside from the right, their wingers left footed strike dragged wide off the post to give Wigan victory.

Despite defeat, Oldham have plenty of positives to take into next weekends friendly against Premier League Burnley at Boundary Park, as Oldham fans return for the first time since February 2020.

A decision was made by the club to move their fixture against Wigan to behind closed doors, after the cost of hosting a match under Covid restrictions proved to be too much.

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