Aussie Filan has proved a more than able deputy for the injured Chris Kirkland during the past six games, and produced several fine saves during yesterday's 1-1 draw at Aston Villa.

The Latics had to battle for nearly an hour with 10 men after Antonio Valencia was given a straight red card for a two-footed lunge which caught Villa defender Wilfred Bouma.

But Filan's heroics and some excellent defending meant Villa could only manage an equaliser from Gabriel Agbonlahor to cancel out Emile Heskey's first-half goal.

The 37-year-old is out of contract in the summer, but on this evidence is still capable of playing in the top flight.

Jewell said: "John made some really good and important saves for us and, when he made a slight mistake, Leighton Baines was there to clear off the line.

"That summed up our performance. It wasn't great football by us but we showed great determination.

"We have got a few players out of contract at the end of the year and we haven't spoken because the only thing on our mind at the moment is staying in the Premiership.

"Contracts will be put on the back burner until we know our fate."

Jewell conceded that Filan may have been slightly fortunate to stay on the pitch after he kicked the ball away when Villa were awarded a free-kick after having already been booked for time-wasting.

He was unhappy with the general performance of referee Mark Halsey and felt Patrik Berger was offside when he set up Agbonlahor for his third goal in as many games.

He said: "The sending-off didn't help us. After that it was basically attack against defence. We rode our luck at times, but for their goal Berger was two yards offside. It wasn't even close.

"Mark Halsey is a good referee but we haven't got anything off the officials. He got the sending-off right. It was a naive challenge more than anything but it was one of the few decisions he got right, I can tell you that."

Villa have now moved well clear of the bottom three after collecting five points from the last three games although manager Martin O'Neill remains cautious.

He said: "We are in a healthier position than before we played Blackburn at the weekend. Had we have won against Wigan, we would have gone 10th so, if we are not safe, there must be quite a few teams in a similar position."

Wigan were content to play with two banks of four players in front of Filan and employ Heskey as the lone striker after Valencia's dismissal, but O'Neill had no problem with their tactics.

He said: "They are entitled to play that way. They went a goal in front and then lost a player. We felt in the second half we had to force the issue as much as we could but the most important thing was to be patient.

"I've got no problems with how other people play. We were the home side and it's up to us to break them down and we had some chances to do so. It just didn't fall for us."