REPORT: Tranmere Rovers 2 Wigan Athletic 1 - Latics pay the penalty with double spot-kick woe

Wigan started well and Baba Adeeko was only denied by a great save by Luke McGee, who stuck out a strong left hand.

After Jonny Smith had curled a shot wide of the far post, Tranmere won a penalty midway through the first half.

Will Aimson tugged back Luke Norris as he was in the act of shooting, and the Tranmere No.9 exacted the perfect revenge by drilling home the spot-kick.

After Thelo Aasgaard had a shot blocked and Joe Hugill headed over, Latics levelled the scores nine minutes before the break.

Matt Smith it was who threaded through a clever pass, and on-loan Manchester United hitman Hugill rifled home a deadly finish to open his account for Latics in his second appearance.

Tranmere dominated the beginning of the second period with.Regan Hendry firing just wide before Josh Davison forced a good save from Tickle.

The Latics goalkeeper produced a sensational save to deny Davison at the three-quarter mark, which led to members of the Tranmere team shaking his hand in appreciation.

But the home side weren't to be denied and regained the lead moments later.

Again it came from the penalty spot - this time after Hugill fouled Cameron Walker - but Tickle very nearly thwarted Rovers again.

The England Under-21 man tipped Brad Walker's shot onto the post, before the ball rebounded back across goal, allowing the taker to slot home from a couple of yards.

Harry McHugh almost levelled in the closing stages after cutting in from the left, but his piledriver from 25 yards hit the angle between post and bar and away from goal.

And substitute Leo Graham came within inches of an equaliser, when he got his head to Calvin Ramsay’s inviting corner, only for the ball to fly wide of the target.

Latics round off their pre-season preparations at Barrow on Saturday afternoon (3pm), before they open their League One campaign with a home game against Charlton Athletic next Saturday evening (5.30pm)