Report by John Patrick Heeley

A youthful Wigan side proved too much for Unibond League outfit Bradford Park Avenue as Joey Roberts, Jason Jarrett and David Moore with a brace giving Latics an emphatic win at a damp Horsfall Stadium.

Gary Walsh got his first start in goal for Wigan after his second half appearance at Southport 24 hours previous, but yet again he had next to nothing to do as the home side were rarely given a sniff on goal.

Walsh joined Paul Mitchell, Jason Jarrett and Leighton Baines in the starting line up to add a bit of experience into the side but it was one of the rising stars JOEY ROBERTS that opened up Wigan's account for the evening when he drilled home from just inside the area after the ball had cracked the crossbar.

The first real chance of the game had fallen to Trevor Storton's men but their ambitious attempt on 5 minutes sailed narrowily over the woodwork.

Roberts' opener was rapidly followed by a second when JASON JARRETT cleverly chipped Park Avenue keeper Chris Howe from 20 yards out.

Wigan continued to press forward and Jonathan Thompson was unfortunate not to find his name on the scoresheet after the youngster battled his way through the defence to get a decent shot on goal only to find it take a deflection over the bar and behind for a corner.

Moments later Howe was equal to Jason Jarrett's shot on goal when he pulled off a decent save, diving low to his left to push behind for a corner kick.

However within seconds Wigan were further in front after DAVID MOORE found the back of the net with a class strike.

Storton made two changes during the half time break with former Rochdale and Burnley star Robbie Painter and ex Oldham youngster Danny Walsh dragging themselves from the bench to replace Nicky Wood and Richard Tracey.

DAVID MOORE wrapped up the game with delightful chip beyond the Bradford keeper just after the hour mark.

Gary Walsh was replaced by trialist keeper James Salisbury with 20 minutes of normal time remaining but was hardly threatened by the Bradford attack.

Park Avenue had what was probably their best chance of the game with the night's last move when Jason Maxwell's outstretched boot at the far post narrowily failed to connect with a Andy Hayward low ball across the face of goal and beyond Salisbury's reach.

Only a handful of Wigan fans decided to travel over the Penines to watch the game but one spectator who did turn up to support Paul Jewell's men was Nathan Ellington who was born and bred locally and had probably only nipped 'down the road' to catch the game.

His reply when asked about his return to action didn't leave me too confident in seeing him line up against Millwall in the season's opener as he admitted that the operation on his injured shoulder seemed to be taking slightly longer than anticipated to recover from.