Gaffer satisfied with Tuesday night's exercise and looking forward to next stage of pre-season

Roberto Martinez praised the performance of new-signing Mauro Boselli and a number of young pros in Latics' pre-season friendly against Oldham Athletic on Tuesday night

Boselli came on after the break and was immediately in action, playing a pivotal role in the build-up to Jordi Gomez's penalty and seeing an effort of his own meet the wood-work after twisting inside the area.

The gaffer believed fans got a taste of what's to come from the Argentine striker;

"Mauro is a very clever player which everybody saw against Oldham," said Martinez.

"He's always on the last man looking to make that final move and using his intelligence to make the right decisions.

"Off the pitch he's become very settled at the club which is a fantastic plus and we're all very excited that he's brining something completely different to the team that we've never had before."

There was also the chance for young professionals Jordan Mustoe, Roman Golobart and Daniel Redmond to show their talents, and the gaffer is delighted with the progress they're making both on and off the pitch;

He said; "The Oldham game allowed us to further monitor the progress being made by the young players at the club, and we're still looking at our options during the transfer window.

"But it will also depend on how those young players continue to develop. It's important that they are the future of this football club and we're very committed to helping them fulfil their potential.

"For the last ten months we've been working very hard with that group of 18-22 year-olds and there are one or two individuals who are ahead of where we expected them to be, which is extremely promising.

"I can see two or three players at the moment who are very close to making the first-team."

Overall Martinez was satisfied with the game as a work-out exercise and is looking forward to the upcoming pre-season programme that takes the team to Austria on Saturday for one week;

"There's not much to look into regarding the result, it was a fitness exercise and you could see certain aspects were a little rusty which is expected at this time.

"But certain partnerships are starting to form on the pitch, young players are taking responsibility and they are the biggest aspects to have come out of the game.

"It's impossible to see trends in a game when so many changes are made at half-time. The important thing for us was the individual work of the players to prepare themselves and take the responsibility at this time.

"The next ten days are going to be very important. We're going to step things up, help the players to become sharper and of course we'll also see the return of certain players from the World Cup."