Preston North End 1 Wigan Athletic 4
Preston North End were given a football lesson by Wigan Athletic in Tuesday night's friendly at Deepdale.
Alan Irvine's men had no answer to the visitors' slick passing and suffered their first defeat of the pre-season programme.
The only consolation from the clash which PNE could really take was that few of the players who started this defeat are likely starters against Bristol City on the opening day of the new campaign.
Wigan started the rout with two goals in three minutes towards the end of the first half, Hugo Rodallega and Charles N'Zogbia on target.
Michael Brown added the third with the second-half in its infancy, before Jason Scotland netted on his Latics debut.
Neil Mellor reduced the arrears three minutes from time, turning home a cross from Chris Sedgwick.
Other than that, there was little attacking joy for PNE on a night which comfortably belonged to the visitors.
It was Roberto Martinez's side who enjoyed by far the better of the first-half exchanges.
Preston survived a scare inside the first 20 seconds, Jordi Gomez's surge into the box halted by a challenge from Billy Jones.
The ball spun into the path of Rodallega who hooked a shot over his shoulder and into the side netting.
Wayne Henderson then got fingertips to a 20-yard shot from Gomez, enough to take it over the bar and behind for a corner.
Then it needed a timely sliding intervention from Jones to deflect a shot from N'Zogbia past the target.
North End had the ball in the net after 14 minutes, Stephen Elliott turning a Ross Wallace free-kick past Chris Kirkland from close range.
But the linesman's flag went up, Elliott having strayed into an offside position, and referee Graham Salisbury chalked the effort off.
Elliott then lifted a bouncing ball over the bar after Chris Brown had headed down a right-wing centre from Barry Nicholson.
Wigan took a 36th minute lead, Lee Cattermole feeding a pass out to N'Zogbia on the right-wing, his cross met by Rodallega who powered a header past Henderson from 10 yards.
And the visitors doubled their advantage within three minutes, N'Zogbia cutting in from the wing, evading the challenge of Eddie Nolan, before beating Henderson with a low shot at the near post.
Any hopes of North End clawing their way back into the game evaporated less than three minutes into the second half.
A neat interchange of passes between Rachid Bouaouzan and Jason Scotland teed up Michael Brown to sweep a first-time shot from 12 yards past Andrew Lonergan - a half-time replacement for Henderson.
PNE's response saw Michael Hart pick out Brown at the far post with an inviting cross, the striker's header looping over the bar.
Then half-time subSedgwick smashed a first-time volley from outside the box wide of the target.
At the other end, Scotland's pass sent Gomez clear on goal but he shot wide as Lonergan came off his line.
And then Paul Scharner rattled the near post with a powerful header from Bouaouzan's inswinging corner.
But Wigan weren't to be prevented a fourth goal, the visitors stretching their lead moments after Scharner's effort against the woodwork.
Brown's low 25-yard drive was spilled by Lonergan into the path of Scotland who had the simple task of side-footing home the rebound for a debut goal.
Mellor, on as a substitute for Elliott, netted in the 87th minute, hammering a shot into the root of the net from Sedgwick's pull-back.
Irvine had made seven changes to the North End side.
Jones, Liam Chilvers, Wallace and Darren Carter were the survivors from Saturday's win over Stoke City.
North End: Henderson, Hart, Trotman, Chilvers, Nolan, Nicholson, Carter, Jones, Wallace, Brown, Elliott. Subs: Lonergan, Davidson, Chaplow, Sedgwick, Parkin, Mellor, Hawley.
Wigan: Kirkland, Melchiot, Boyce, Bramble, Figueroa, de Ridder, Cattermole, Thomas, Gomez, N'Zogbia, Rodallega. Subs: Pollitt, Scharner, Brown, Bouaouzan, Cho, Scotland, Kupisz, Cywka, Routledge, Holt, Watson.
Referee: Graham Salisbury (Preston)
Attendance: 3,645
For a full match report, pictures and reaction, see Wednesday's edition of the Lancashire Evening Post.
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Weather for Preston
Friday 03 September 2010
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