WANDERERS Under-18s suffered a first-round exit in the Lancashire FA Youth Cup at the hands of Wigan Athletic on Tuesday.

Nicky Spooner's youngsters lost 5-2 away from home with Latics teenager Mwiya Malumo netting a hat-trick for the hosts.

Wanderers went into the cup tie on a high after a 6-1 home victory over Ipswich in the U18 Professional Development League North Division at the weekend.

But they gave themselves a mountain to climb after conceding two goals inside the first three minutes, both to Malumo with the second seeing him beat Whites stopper James Aspinall one-on-one.

After the fast start for the hosts, Wanderers regrouped and gradually got into the game with Ronan Darcy seeing a shot from distance saved.

They were back in the tie when Luca Navarro netted his third goal in two games to make it 2-1 but as they pushed for an equaliser, Wigan struck on the counter-attack and 10 minutes before the break Malumo had completed his hat-trick, again getting the better of Aspinall.

After the break, Malumo squandered a spot-kick but Wigan did make it 4-1 soon after when Charlie Jolley flicked the ball home from Tylor Golden’s cross.

Navarro reduced the deficit again just past the hour-mark but an individual error led to a fifth for the Latics five minutes from time when Neil Monaghan turned and finished first time from outside the box.

It was a disappointing day for coach Spooner who said: "We were 2-0 down after three minutes – Wigan came out quickly and we did not get started.

"As the game settled we began to gain more possession and worked the ball well in the final third but individual errors cost us.

"The performance was very disappointing after Saturday's excellent result."