THE loudest cheer when Wanderers vanquished local foes Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup probably came from down the road at Lostock.

This was one in the eye for those who claimed the club’s Academy was not producing good enough players to have an impact on the first team stage.

Zach Clough earned deserved the standing ovation he received for a brilliantly-taken winning goal on debut but there was just as much evidence the Whites conveyor belt was running smoothly at right-back, where Josh Vela continues to produce beyond his tender years, or even on the bench where Oscar Threlkeld waited for his chance.

It is barely a 10-minute walk between the Macron Stadium and the Eddie Davies Academy – longer if you are Tony Kelly – but it might as well have been 100 miles for the lack of congruity between the two levels of the football club in recent years.

Perhaps the biggest mistake of Dougie Freedman’s reign was the barrier created around the senior set-up, the exclusion of staff with Wanderers running right through their veins and the hundreds of young footballers working under them.

And it was no coincidence whatsoever that in Neil Lennon’s first act as manager he opened the gates at Euxton and brought everyone under the same umbrella for the first time in 18 months.

The pressure to produce players and substantiate the investment in a Category One academy has been enormous but only now, with the emergence of Vela and the stellar introduction of Clough to the first team, does it actually feel we are getting anywhere.

We are still a long way from having a Class of 2015 – as Lennon was careful to point out in his post-match assessment but the Northern Irishman has offered hope to the young players who want to rub shoulders with Eidur Gudjohnsen or Emile Heskey.

“Our Academy has been much maligned over the last couple of years,” he said. “But you can see the work that has been put into the boys.

“If you give the kids a chance then sometimes they come up trumps for you. We feel Vela and Clough have a decent future in the game. There might be a drop because sometimes you are out there when the adrenaline is flowing.

“It is testament to the work Jimmy (Phillips) Dave (Lee) and Nicky Spooner have done in the past and what Ian Brunskill is bringing to the club now,” he said.

“We are delighted because there is big investment in the Academy so the fans, the board and the owner want to see some results."

In a quite incredible coincidence, debutant Clough was born on March 8, 1995 – exactly the same day Emile Heskey made his professional debut for Leicester City in a Premier League game at QPR.

Nearly 20 years later, the Denton-born youngster was playing just off the former England star in a reshaped attack. A better script you simply could not have written.

We had worried about whether Chung-Yong Lee’s absence at the Asia Cup would leave the Whites without a spark but they were alleviated from the first time the 19-year-old picked up the ball and ran fearlessly at the Wigan back four.

Had it not been for ex-Wanderers favourite Ali Al-Habsi, the game would have been won inside the opening half hour.

The Oman international later travelled out to Australia where he will come up against Chung-Yong in a group game on January 10 and for a while, you wished he’d caught an earlier flight.

Al-Habsi twice denied the excellent Liam Trotter and when he was finally beaten by the Whites midfielder, the referee’s assistant had already raised his flag for offside.

David Wheater was back in the side for the injured Matt Mills and was dominant throughout, even though he should have done better with a far-post header from Tim Ream’s corner in the first half.

Wigan were unsure in possession and devoid of confidence, as their position in the Championship suggests, and only a fine saving challenge from Ivan Ramis prevented Liam Feeney from getting a tap-in after he ran in on a fine threaded pass from Clough.

Malky Mackay did rally his troops after the break, introducing crafty Scot Shaun Maloney, and Adam Bogdan was forced into a marvellous save from Adam Forshaw’s close-range header to keep the scores level.

Back in the side for the first time since August, you tend to wonder whether we will see much more of the Hungary international now the January window is open and his contract continues to tick down. This display, as if it were necessary, was a timely reminder of his class.

Clough continued to test and probe, seeing one shot loop off Rob Kiernan and land just wide and another pushed athletically away by Al-Habsi.

When Ramis helped his keeper out again with another desperate tackle on the line to deny Darren Pratley a fourth goal in four games, it was looking like one of those days.

Chris McCann headed just over for the improving Latics but just as Lennon looked to be contemplating change, Clough provided the moment we had been waiting for.

Trotter drove into midfield and released a perfectly-weighted pass; just as Clough looked to have given Al-Habsi a chance to dive on the ball he clipped the ball over the advancing keeper to send the stadium into raptures.

Bogdan saw the result out with some stunning shot-stopping, first from James McClean and then Maloney.

Clough departed to a standing ovation, replaced rather symbolically by Eidur Gudjohnsen. If the young man can learn some more good habits from that particular team-mate, what a player we could have on our hands.

It’s back to work for the Academy lads this week, cones out on the frosty all-weather pitches, kettles brewing in the cabins.

But at least the tea will taste a bit sweeter knowing they are doing something right.