Wigan Athletic 'looked good', admits Preston North End boss

Latics edged an entertaining opening-day encounter, although they were indebted to goalkeeper Ben Amos for making the two best saves of the game to deny Troy Parrott and Emil Riis, who also hit the bar.

And Lowe - who managed against Latics last term at Plymouth before joining Preston - believes Latics will bridge the step up to the Championship this season.

"I thought they looked good, I've always liked the way Leam and Rob (Kelly) set their teams up and play football," said Lowe, whose side were forced to play the last 10 minutes with 10 men after substitute Ched Evans was sent off for a late lunge on the grounded Curtis Tilt.

"I know they've not signed many players this summer, but most of that side has played in the Championship before and they're good players.

"We knew how they'd try to play, get the ball into (Josh) Magennis and try to play off him, especially with (Callum) Lang.

"It's very effective, they don't just launch it, they play it nicely in there, and I thought we did fantastic to nullify that.

"If anyone thought we were going to walk into the stadium here and pick up three easy points, they had another thing coming - and we certainly didn't.

"We paid massive respect to Leam and his team, because he's got a good group here, and they showed that again."