Match report by Dave McMillan

Marine completed their home friendly schedule with a 3-2 defeat at the Arriva Stadium on Sunday, at the hands of a Wigan Athletic XI.

Kevin Lynch’s men were three goals adrift just after the hour after finding the Premiership outfit a little too slick, but produced a spirited fightback to come close to squaring the game late on.

The appearance of that rarest of objects - the Sun - led to a warm afternoon in Crosby, the temperature taking an inevitable toll on a fairly low key affair.

Edvard Campabadal put the Latics in front after 11 minutes, advancing a tad too easily in to the right of the home penalty area, before finding the net with a crisp drive inside Ryan McMahon’s near post.

Guillermo Andres looked lively for the visitors in the first half, and might well have had a hat trick with steadier nerve in good positions, bringing a block from McMahon with an attempted lob on the first occasion, and finding the side netting from tight angles after twice rounding the Marine custodian.

Thomas Moore was penalised after blocking a free kick in the wall with an arm, Ryan Watson stepping up to dispatch a confident spot kick in to the bottom left hand corner of the goal on 35 minutes.

Paul Brown brought a stretching save from Calvin Hare in the Wigan goal, before the visitors should have extended their lead after Callum Morris went through, squaring unselfishly for Andres to tap home from an unforgivably offside position.

The Latics continued to press early in the second half and it was soon 3-0, the wonderfully named Jesjua Cruyff producing a bit of his namesake’s magic to burst down the left, providing a tidy cross for Watson to notch his second of the contest from close range.

Andy Fowler reduced the arrears on 69 minutes, shrugging off a defender with an old fashioned shoulder charge to advance on goal and slide the ball past Hare.

Athletic still had further chances with Callum Williams producing an excellent stop to deny Campabadal, Watson blazing over the top from 15 yards and Rakish Bingham seemingly having too much time to put an effort wide.

Matty Devine made an instant impact up front for Marine, embarking on several Boltlike runs in to the box, being brought down after leaving Steve Boothman trailing in his wake.

Moore made no mistake from the resultant penalty, sending Hare the wrong way with the kick after 83 minutes.

Marine looked the likelier scorers now as they finished strongly, Devine rolling a quickly taken free kick through to Karl Noon with Hare doing very well to block the striker’s angled drive and ultimately preserve the win for the Latics.

Marine: Ryan McMahon (Callum Williams 45), Shaun Dowling (Liam Duff 74), Paul Lundon, Matty Brown, John Shaw, Thomas Moore, Andy Fowler (Karl Noon 84), Paul Brown (John Connolly 45), Nick Rogan (Liam Dawson 74), Karl Noon (Liam Dawson 74), Michael Ordish (Matty Devine 62).

Unused subs: Robbie Lawton, Dean Pye (G/K).

Wigan Athletic: Calvin Hare, Edvard Campabadal (Peter Aylmer 77), Steve Boothman, Jonathan Lynch, Jamie McCormack, Tim Chow (Cap), (Josh Sumner 77), Ryan Watson, Callum Morris, Guillermo Andres (Jack Phillips 45), Abubakar Sheego (Rakish Bingham 45), Jesjua Cruyff.

Referee: Mr. Kieran Johnson; Assistants Mr. Andy Pownall, Mr. Sammy Sinclair.

Attendance: 197.