James Perch gives Wigan Athletic win

A first-half goal from James Perch has given Wigan Athletic a 1-0 win over SC Paderborn in a pre-season friendly at the Benteler Arena this evening.

Scott Carson had to make a couple of early saves as the newly-promoted Bundesliga side looked for the early goal, but the keeper did enough to stop them taking the lead.

Wigan started to see more of the possession after the opening 15 minutes, and managed to win a corner, which set up Perch for a header to open the scoring.

The home side came close to an equaliser just seven minutes later when Stefan Kutschke tried to smash the ball in from close range following a Florian Hartherz free kick, but his finish was a fraction wide.

Callum McManaman tried to increase the Championship side's lead before the break, but they were unable to find the target again ahead of the half-time whistle.

Wigan made an attacking start to the second half, but Martyn Waghorn was unable to connect with a dangerous-looking cross into the box.

Idir Ouali came within inches of getting the hosts back on level terms late on when the rattled the post for Paderborn, but it was not enough to earn the German side a draw.