Chorley hit-back over Wigan '˜thrashing'

Matt Jansen’s National League North first team side completed their official friendly schedule with a 1-1 home draw against National League side Wrexham on Saturday.

But as social media platform Twitter went into meltdown about Wigan’s supposed drubbing of the non-league side, Jansen’s first team were taking part in a training session.

The Chorley team which took to the field against Wigan was made up of players from their Under-21s development squad, while the Latics fielded a number of big names, including Northern Ireland international Will Grigg, who scored five times on the night.

The game was initially organised as a meeting between the two clubs’ Under-21s squads, but Wigan decided to field some experienced players.

Magpies boss Jansen said that there had been a ‘misunderstanding’ over the status of the game and the club issued a statement clarifying this.

The statement said: “Chorley Football Club would like to make the following statement with regards to last night’s Under-21 friendly against Wigan Athletic Under-21’s.

“The game was not originally intended to involve first team players for either side and was arranged as a behind closed doors friendly.

“Chorley FC have completed their pre-season competitive fixtures and the first team were training as normal on Tuesday evening. There was never any intention of it being a first team game with the season less than a week away.

“On social media and in some reports the game has since been labelled as a Chorley FC first team fixture, this was never the case, however Wigan did opt to field players with first team and international experience.

“We hope this clarifies the situation.”