Preston North End 1 Wigan Athletic 3

Man of the Match – Victor Moses

Roberto Martinez was unable to call upon the services of the likes Hugo Rodallega and Antolin Alcaraz due to their recent involvement in the Copa America tournament but still boasted a strong line up for the journey up the M6.

Martinez made considerable changes during the interval but his charges had already built up a sizeable lead before the break and the second half allowed him to experiment with his side and cast his eye over a couple of trialists with former Wolves player David Jones impressing in midfield.

The 26-year-old has been training with Wigan since becoming a free agent after declining to accept a new contract at Molineux and Martinez could do far worse than to bring the former Manchester United trainee a deal.

Wigan got off to a flying start, finding the back of the net with only a matter of seconds on the clock.

Victor Moses raced down the left and sent over a cross that was intercepted by Preston defender Clarke Carlisle but James McCarthy threw himself in the way of the clearance and directed the ball home with his head.

The travelling Wigan fans didn’t have long to wait for the second goal to arrive and it was that man Moses again with a charge down the left flank but this time he cut inside and slotted the ball into the far corner and past the outstretched Iain Turner in the Preston goal.

Preston were now firmly on the back foot and it wasn’t until close to the 20 minute mark that Phil Brown’s side made any real impression on the game and came close to narrowing the deficit on a couple of occasions.

The home side did pull a goal back however with 21-year-old Amini Linganzi picked out by a Barry Nicholson corner and then the on loan Blackburn Rovers midfilder struck a neat volley past Mike Pollitt with 25 minutes on the clock.

Wigan restored their two goal cushion within minutes courtesy of a well taken Emmerson Boyce header – the Wigan defender latching onto another Victor Moses center.

The second half saw multiple changes for both sides with Martinez making five during the interval and a further three during the course of the second half.

Moses went close to adding to his tally shortly after the restart and Jordi Gomez saw his effort come back off the woodwork but the second half couldn’t quite live up to the the opening exchanges but Martinez has certainly been given a few things to think about ahead of the season’s opener in less than two weeks time.

However, before then there is the matter of the visit of Spanish side Villareal to the DW Stadium for a friendly game next Sunday.