Latics have never been afraid to give youth a chance with Tom Eaves and Kirk Millar the latest trainees to win promotion to the first team.

Eaves has made four substitute appearances while Millar made his bow in the second half against Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday.

The 6ft 5in Eaves certainly walks tall in every sense at Boundary Park where he has had a phenomenal goalscoring record in the youth team.

And the 18-year-old Liverpuddlian has this season stepped up to the reserve side as well as featuring in the first team.

Yet second-year trainee Eaves was lost to football after quitting Crewe having spent six-and-a-half years at their centre of excellence saying he had fallen out of love with the game at the age of 14.

After a break from football, Eaves felt refreshed and was offered a trial by Latics and was immediately offered a contract.

Tony Philliskirk, Latics' head of youth, explained: "The trial was at Hopwood Hall and after 10 minutes Tom had scored with his right foot and left foot.

"I said then that we should sign him as I could see his potential."

Eaves has had injury troubles with a bad back caused by rapid growth spurts while he missed the second half of last season through damaged ankle ligaments though, happily, he has overcome those problems and he is now training full time with the first team.

Millar, meanwhile, only arrived at Boundary Park last summer  having been snapped up from top Irish club Linfield.

The 17-year-old was brought to the attention of Philliskirk and chief youth scout Ronnie Millward by Scott Boyd who scouts for Latics in Northern Ireland.

Philliskirk, who himself makes two or three scouting trips to Northern Ireland each year, was impressed when watching the right sided midfielder/ striker playing for Linfield under-18s.

Millar, who played for Linfield's reserve team aged 15, also made one first-team appearance as a substitute before the deal was struck to bring him to Boundary Park.

And it is a measure of the progress he has made that in only eight months at Boundary Park he had graduated to the first team despite only just recovering from damaged ankle ligaments, an injury which had kept him on the sidelines for a couple of months.

Latics' coaching staff have been impressed by the way in which Millar has handled the step up believing the fact he has already played men's football for Linfield means he has not been fazed by what has happened at Boundary Park.