Report by John Patrick Heeley

Egyptian striker Amr Zaki showed the Wigan fans exactly what to expect from him next season when he knocked him a late goal to give his new side victory over Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

The 25-year-old striker made his Latics debut just before the hour mark when he replaced Michael Brown and almost immediately showed his hunger for goal and was unfortunate not to have hit the target on a couple of occasions.

Wigan had twice taken the lead through Emile Heskey and then Titus Bramble only for their hosts to level matters with Jamaican international Jermaine Johnson taking his chance well and then fellow Reggae Boy Deon Burton coolly firing home from the spot after Maynor Figueroa had upended Marcus Tudgay in the box.

The game started brightly with both sides having a sniff at goal in the opening exchanges.

Emmerson Boyce needed to be at his best to snuff out a move from former Port Vale and Darlington striker Akpo Sodje and then Emile Heskey went close after Daniel de Ridder had put him through on goal.

Marlon King could possibly have done better in front of goal but put his effort wide with little over 10 minutes on the clock before Jermaine Johnson blasted the ball straight at Wigan keeper Carlo Nash.

The opening goal of the game arrived moments later when a de Ridder flag kick found EMILE HESKEY who got up above his marker to nod home for his third successive goal in this pre-season campaign.

However the lead was somewhat short lived when two minutes later the impressive JERMAINE JOHNSON carved his way through the Wigan defence to slot the ball past a helpless Nash.

Latics went close to regaining their lead on thirty minutes through de Ridder whose free kick beat the Wednesday wall but found Lee Grant in fine form, the ex-Derby County keeper throwing himself across goal to push the ball around the post for a corner.

Wigan continued to push for a second goal and were duly rewarded on 36 minutes with Dutch midfielder de Ridder again in the thick of things as another of his corner kicks was directed home but this time centre-half TITUS BRAMBLE was on hand to direct his header past Grant.

Steve Bruce’s side had the ball in the back of the net just after the break but Lee Cattermole’s effort was ruled out for offside with the assistant referee to his right already flagging before he took his shot.

That could have wrapped up the game as a contest but the home side were back on level terms with everything to play for when referee Mark Haywood pointed to the spot after Figueroa was adjudged to have impeded Marcus Tudgay in front of goal.

Up stepped DEON BURTON and the 31-year-old fired home with embarrassing ease past Nash to make the scoreline 2-2.

Wigan then created a host of chances but couldn’t find a way through with Zaki at the heart of a number of opportunities with fellow substitues Antonio Valencia, Henri Camara and Antoine Sibierski also threatening.

However with the game heading for a stalemate Wigan exerted more pressure on goal which eventually paid off as the game entered stoppage time with orange booted AMR ZAKI running onto a defence splitting ball from Henri Camara and sending a low shot beyond Grant and in doing so handing Wigan the win.

Latics now head over the border to take on Mixu Paatelainen’s Hibernian side on Tuesday night at Easter Road.