Fox scores twice as Wigan beat Boreham Wood to reach FA Cup second round

Wigan Athletic are through to the second round of the FA Cup after a 3-0 win at Boreham Wood on Saturday. Morgan Fox scored twice, and Jon Mellish got the first goal.

The tie was played at Meadow Park, Boreham Wood's home ground. Wigan play in League One, the third tier of English football. Boreham Wood were top of the National League, the division directly below the Football League, when they met. That made the scoreline a tougher test for Wigan than the league gap might suggest.

Wigan took the lead early. BBC Sport reported the win, and the match record shows Mellish scoring in the 11th minute. Fox then doubled the lead in the 36th minute. His goal was a left-footed free kick that curled into the top left corner of the net.

Fox struck again in the 74th minute to make it 3-0. Wigan had already shown their stronger side in that period, and the third goal settled the tie.

The FA Cup is England's oldest knockout competition. Clubs from the top flight down to the lowest professional and non-league divisions enter, and one defeat ends a club's run. Wigan are former winners of the trophy, so the first round is a route back into the competition's later rounds for them. Boreham Wood, meanwhile, were in the first round for a seventh successive season.

Wigan's cup win came three days after a 0-0 draw with Mansfield Town in the league. Wigan Athletic's match report put the crowd at 7,494, including 526 Mansfield supporters. Saturday's trip to Hertfordshire gave Wigan a chance to score freely after that stalemate.

Boreham Wood's season is not over, and their National League place is still on the line. Their supporters will feel the loss, but the cup run gave the club a week that many clubs of their size never get. Wigan now wait to find out who they face in the second round.