• Wigan Athletic suffered an opening day 3-2 defeat to Cambridge United after an abject first half display.
• Latics were 1-0 down after only three minutes when following a corner Mamadou Jobe headed the ball into the path of former Latic Kell Watts, who forced the ball past Joe Walsh.
• The visitors were 2-0 down on 34 minutes after some hapless defending. Isaac Heath led a break from the halfway line before finding Louis Appere who slid the ball past Walsh.
• The match looked over seven minutes after half time, when Heath added Cambridge’s third finishing from Shane McLoughlin’s shot across goal.
• But Latics rallied and on 69 minutes substitute Akeel Higgins hit a post from distance and Sonny Perkins followed in the rebound.
• Four minutes later Latics scored again as a deep cross was nodded back across goal by Dara Costelloe, allowing Higgins to score from close range.
• Despite some late pressure the visitors were unable to find an equaliser and Cambridge got their season off to a winning start.

Latics got off to a dreadful start when they went one down after only three minutes.

Following a corner Mamadou Jobe headed the ball into the path of former Latic Kell Watts, who forced the ball past Joe Walsh.

The visitors tried to get back into the game with Costelloe heading over but they were 2-0 down on 34 minutes after some hapless defending. Morgan Fox and Jensen Weir both failed to clear the ball and Heath found Appere, who slid the ball past Walsh.

The match looked over seven minutes after half time, when Heath added Cambridge’s third finishing from Shane McLoughlin’s mis hit shot across goal.

Latics made a double substitution on the hour mark, with K’Marni Miller and Akeel Higgins taking over from Connor Barrett and Chris Sze, to join Archie Harris, who replaced Llyton Chapman at the interval.

The visitors now looked more of a threat with Higgins looking particularly lively.

After Miller fired over from a decent shooting position, Latics pulled one back on 69 minutes when Higgins’ superb strike from 25 yards hit the post, before Sonny Perkins followed up to score from close range.

Soon afterwards Fraser Murray’s cross was headed back across goal by Costelloe, and Higgins tapped home from close range to make it 2-3.

Latics exerted late pressure but they were unable to create any clear-cut chances to snatch a point.

Overview

This was a disappointing opening to the season for Gary Caldwell’s fledgling team.

Unfortunately the first half defending was completely unacceptable and they will have to be a big improvement against Leyton Orient at the Brick Community Stadium next week.

Latics had been competitive against Barnsley in the Carabao Cup, but against Cambridge in the first half they just didn’t compete, they were unable to defend long balls and they gave the ball away far too easily.

Latics missed the injured James Carragher but the other defenders did not cover themselves in glory in the first half.

New signing Finley Burns should add some quality to the defence and further recruits are needed before the end of the transfer window.

It will take time for Caldwell’s new team to settle down but they must quickly eradicate the basic mistakes of today.

Post-match comments

Speaking afterwards to the media Gary Caldwell said,

“I’m disappointed with the start. It wasn’t a good performance until we probably brought the substitutions on.

“One thing we spoke about coming here is competing, and we didn’t compete. We didn’t defend long balls well; we didn’t look after the ball well.

“I said competing isn’t just about tackling; it’s about keeping the ball, being brave on the ball, it’s about getting one-v-one and getting at people, and we didn’t do anywhere near enough of that. That’s the harsh reality of League One football, and we have to get up to speed quickly.

“I thought when we made the double change, even the second half in general, but we can’t concede the goals that we did and expect to win.

“We have to be better, we have to improve, and we knew that at the start of the summer. We knew that it was going to be a transitional period, and too many things went wrong today that we have to do better.”

Player ratings