Shaun Maloney acknowledged the silver lining from Wigan Athletic’s defeat at Tranmere Rovers was that it didn’t happen next weekend when the League One campaign begins.
Latics suffered a 2-1 loss at Prenton Park, with penalties from Luke Norris and Brad Walker making the difference. Joe Hugill scored for Latics before the break, and Harry McHugh hit the woodwork late on.
Maloney was critical of the overall performance, noting that Tranmere, managed by ex-Latics goalkeeper Nigel Adkins, deserved the win.
“It was a really competitive outing,” he said. “Tranmere were very good in the second half, and the only positive is that this happened now, and not next weekend. This pre-season, we have played well and had the advantage in most games.
“Tonight in the second half, Tranmere came for us, and we still played like it was a friendly – and they didn’t. That was the difference, and the players all know that. Apart from the two centre-backs (Jason Kerr and Will Aimson), who I thought were very good, Baba (Adeeko) who was brilliant, Dion (Rankine) the same, and Joe Hugill’s efforts with and without the ball, I give him a pass as well.
“Everyone else…they got a message tonight. You can’t drift through a game at any level and think you’re going to be okay. I didn’t see a big enough reaction to win the game, which I didn’t like. I know it’s only a friendly, but I didn’t like that.”
Maloney also had no issue with either of Tranmere’s penalties, awarded for shirt-pulls against Will Aimson and Hugill.
“No, not really. You have to defend your box properly, that’s fine,” he added. “You can’t pull shirts in the box, everyone knows that, and there’s no complaints from any of us.”
Latics will finish their pre-season preparations at Barrow on Saturday afternoon (3pm) before opening their League One campaign with a home game against Charlton Athletic next Saturday evening (5.30pm).
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