Scott Smith reflects on Wigan Athletic milestone

The 21-year-old scored his first senior goal to round off the scoring in Latics' 5-1 victory at the Sir Tom Finney Stadium.

And the Under-23s skipper was pleased to take his chance to show Leam Richardson what he can do in the first team set-up.

“I know it’s a friendly, but it always means so much when you get your first goal," he said.

“I joked with a few of the lads that I had a nosebleed being in the box, but I’m over the moon with it.

More than a thousand Latics fans made the short trip up the M6, and Smith says it was an invaluable exercise.

“To have the feel of having the fans in the ground is what makes it even more competitive and it’s nice to see so many familiar faces," he added.

“I think both teams - the one that set out in the first half and the one that played the second half - performed really well.

“The main objective was to get the legwork in and physical returns and I think we did that well.”

Goals from Callum Lang (2), Tom Pearce, Josh Magennis and Smith gave the visitors a comfortable victory.

And the sight of striker Charlie Wyke in the starting line-up - eight months after suffering a cardiac arrest at the club’s Christopher Park training ground - put the icing on the cake.