Wigan Athletic under-18s can hold heads high after loss to Liverpool

Latics could not recover from Liverpool’s explosive start at Chester FC’s Deva Stadium, and tasted their first loss of the 2018-19 campaign in all competitions.

Wigan’s young guns can hold their heads held high after they pushed a Category One academy side to their limits, and were unlucky not to salvage a result.

Liverpool’s in-form strike duo Paul Glatzel and Bobby Duncan stormed Barry Lewtas’ side into a 2-0 lead inside the opening quarter before threatening to add a third through Luis Longstaff’s mazy run.

Latics did show promise after their slow start with England youth star Joe Gelhardt causing a concern for the Liverpool back-line.

The exciting forward beat several advancing players with a evading run before stabbing an low effort that Vitezslav Jaros could only tip away.

Wigan did have the ball in the net through Charlie Jolley but celebrations were cut short as the teenager was adjudged to have fouled Morgan Boyes as he raced onto a long kick and lobbed Jaros.

Latics’ growing dominance continued to show in the second-half after they came close to halving the deficit through Jolley, but Lewtas’ side managed the game well to ensure that they preserved their two-goal advantage over Gregor Rioch’s side.

Liverpool- who had chances of their own in the final stages of the encounter- held on to book their place in the FA Youth Cup Quarter Final.

After their fifth-round FA Youth Cup exit, Latics will now turn their focus to keeping their top spot in the EFL Youth Alliance.

Wigan will have two more bites of the cherry for cup glory as they have the EFL Youth Alliance Cup and Lancashire FA Youth Cup finals to look forward to over the next few months.