Whilst the England cricket team were rolling back the years over at Headingley with a performance more reminiscent of 1995 than 2005, Latics fans had their own bout of nostalgia on Saturday as the Three Amigos were once again reunited at the club that made their names. Well, probably.

As Isidro Diaz, Jesus Seba and of course Roberto Martinez emerged from the tunnel to the strains of Fatboy Slim’s Praise You, it was as if they’d never been away. After a warm reception and brief photocall with Dave Whelan, Issy and Jesus stayed on to sign some autographs while Bob retreated to the dressing rooms to gee up the Latics players for his home managerial debut.

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There was a distinctly pre-season feel about this game: maybe it was the empty South and East Stands or the slightly below Premier League standard opposition that betrayed the match’s warmup status. But it was a game worth paying attention to for a number of reasons, not least the small but significant fact it was Roberto Martinez’s home managerial début.

There was a vociferous, if not rapturous, reception for Bob in his appearance as part of the reunited Three Amigos as an emotional pre-match presentation involving Bob, Issy, Jesus and Uncle Dave was met with warm applause. It was worth the five pounds entrance fee alone, and many would have been forgiven for forgetting there was actually a game about to take place.

Latics got off to a roaring start, hitting the post early on and causing the St. Mirren defence some real problems in the first half. A couple of tasty challenges involving Lee Cattermole got the crowd warmed up, and on 25 minutes, Jason Koumas capped a decent personal pre-season with a free kick slotted nicely into the top corner of Paul Gallacher’s goal.

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