Heskey snatched a last-minute equaliser at Stamford Bridge to deny the Blues two vital points in their pursuit of Barclays Premier League leaders Manchester United.

Avram Grant's side are now five points behind United with both sides having four matches left.

Heskey told Setanta Sports: "We battled away. We knew all about coming to Chelsea, it's always a big game and they are chasing Man U.

"But we need the points too and we battled away and got quite a few chances and took the one at the end.

"It's just one point but it keeps us up there."

The draw was important to Wigan's hopes of beating relegation but it would not have been possible without goalkeeper Chris Kirkland, who was in excellent form.

Kirkland said: "I just had a feeling about tonight. The last few weeks have been superb and we've got ourselves into a good position.

"There are still four games to go, and tonight was a bonus."

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Chelsea manager Avram Grant refused to concede defeat in their battle with United.

The Blues had led through Michael Essien and would have closed within three points - with a game against United still to come - had they held on.

The Israeli told Setanta Sports: "We are still in the title race. It is more difficult now but we will still fight away.

"In the second half we played wonderful. It was one of our best performances and we had a lot of chances.

"But this is football. If you don't score the second one and don't pay attention this is what happens.

"Our problem this year is we don't use the chances. I don't know why, maybe it is a lack of concentration."

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Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech was also disappointed with the result.

The Czech told Setanta Sports: "I think we are all sad, we conceded a late goal and lost two points.

"I think we had a difficult first half and did not create many chances. In the second half Joe Cole came on and we created more chances.

"Finally we got over the line but unfortunately for us we conceded a late goal.

"It is a pity when you have got two minutes to go and I think we could have done better."

On the title race, he added: "I think we need to concentrate on ourselves and win all our games. Destiny is not in our hands, we need to wait to see if someone can beat Man United."

Cech played wearing a face protector to cover a recent training ground wound which required 50 stitches.

He added: "It was a bit of a risk because no-one knows if I was hit on the same spot what would have happened, but I wanted to play and had protection on the face, which was a good point."

Wigan boss Steve Bruce praised his players' attitude after weathering a Chelsea storm in the second half.

The former Manchester United defender said: "It was very pleasing because for a spell of 20 minutes in the second half Chelsea almost blew us away.

"To be fair we stuck in and the goalkeeper produced some wonderful saves and we got the reward in the end."

Bruce believes his side are now inching closer to Premier League safety.

He added: "We have got 35 points now, usually that's enough, over the last few years. It's been a wonderful achievement to get to 35."