Wigan Athletic chief delivers huge selection carrot for young guns - 'Really staking a claim'

The Latics boss has had his fair share of selections already in pre-season with several first-teamers having been cut down by injury.

On the flip side, that's allowed youngsters Leo Graham and Tobias Brenan to join the senior group and show they can do.

And the 19-year-olds, who joined Latics from the Academies of Bolton Wanderers and Oxford United respectively, have grabbed their opportunities with both hands.

Meaning Lowe would have absolutely no hesitation in fielding them when the new League One campaign gets under way in less than a fortnight.

"Young Leo and young Tobias...if they're good enough, they're old enough," said Lowe. "Those two are really staking a claim for a place in the team let alone the squad at the moment.

"They've just burst on to the scene, they weren't even going to come to Spain with us, but we had a couple of injuries and they've been excellent.

"I'm happy to go with them, it doesn't matter to me how old they are or what they've done in the game.

"If they can perform against a good League Two side in Accrington, I don't see any reason why they can't perform in League One as well."

Both Graham and Brenan appeared off the bench in the second half at the Wham Stadium, when Latics recovered from two goals down to reply with flour unanswered goals in the final quarter.

"We've shown that character in pre-season and also in the time I was here at the end of last season,” acknowledged Lowe. "But that's what you need...we found ourselves two goals down to a couple of moments that didn't really open us up.

"The lads who came onto the field showed a little different attitude, we were more on the front foot, passing forward, running forward, all the things you want.

"Lo and behold those are the things you like to see. Obviously it's only pre-season, but there's no feeling like winning...there's nothing wrong with wanting to win.

"There might not have been any points up for grabs, but I've seen some stuff I wasn't quite happy with that we'll look to put right.

"The good stuff, we work on that, and I see that every day, so that's all good. The not-so-good stuff we can learn from and work on.”

Lowe is also reading nothing into the fact Latics have fallen behind in all three of their warm-up games so far, all against lower-level opposition.

"No, there's no concerns about that,” he added. "I thought we were the better side for the first 25 minutes, we just made a mistake and found ourselves a goal down.

"In Spain, we conceded after a couple of minutes, when we turned into a blind body, and the kid shot and caught Sam (Tickle) flat-footed.

"So I don't think it's an issue of us not getting going in games and falling behind. It's more a case of making individual mistakes and conceding goals when we've got possession.

"We shouldn't be turning the ball over so easy, I get that, and that's stuff we will look to learn and be better at.”