Wigan Athletic boss: Plenty of positives, plenty to work on

On the back of Saturday's 2-1 victory at Oldham, Stephen Humphrys blasted home a 25-yard free-kick to give the visitors - backed by a bumper away following - the spoils at Mill Farm.

And Richardson was happy to tick off another successful step towards being ready for the new campaign, which gets under way on August 7.

"It was another good run-out," he said. "It was like a league game in terms of how competitive it was, which is what you want and expect at this time of year

"There were a lot of positives to come out of the game, and there's also plenty of stuff we can work on, which is also good in a way.

"This is still a new group, and some lads have only been with us a matter of days.

"It's important to be mindful of where we are still, as well as where we want to be."

And rather than be annoyed at seeing Humphrys waste a magnificent strike in a friendly encounter, Richardson was chuffed to see one of his marquee signings off the mark in style.

"To be fair to Stephen, he's scored a few like that, and it's one of the big positives to have one of our forward players off the mark," he added.

"It might only be in pre-season, but there's nothing like scoring goals to build confidence."

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