Wigan Athletic remain precariously placed above the relegation zone after Antonio Valencia's red card scuppered their hopes of claiming a win at Aston Villa in a 1-1 draw.
Wigan had controversially taken the lead through former Liverpool and England hit-man Emile Heskey in the first half but a horror two-footed lunge from Valencia on Villa's Dutch defender Wilfred Bouma saw the Ecudor midfielder deservedly given his marching orders 10 minutes before the break.
Reduced to 10-men for the entire second half and forced to cling onto their one-goal lead for dear life, Wigan came up just short as Gabriel Agbonlahor deflected in a Patrick Berger strike five minutes after the break to earn the hosts a share of the spoils.
Thereafter Villa piled on the pressure in search of a winner that would have taken them over the magic 40-point barrier and ensured they face no relegation jitters in the final weeks of the season.
But for Wigan the point leaves them just three points ahead of the drop zone with six games to play but crucially Sheffield United, occupying 18th place, have a game in hand.
Villa boss Martin O'Neill had kept faith with the same starting 11 that won impressively at Blackburn on Saturday while Paul Jewell made three changes to his Wigan outfit.
The hosts had the first two chances of the game with Bouma lashing a shot over the bar and then Berger's effort almost deceiving John Filan in the Wigan goal after taking a deflection off Leighton Baines. Filan just managed to change direction quickly enough to tip the ball around the post.
But on 21 minutes the visitors moved in front, but not without controversy. Matt Jackson appeared to block Villa goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen at a corner, allowing Heskey to tap home Lee McCulloch's header.
Olaf Mellberg almost snatched a late winner but Filan parried his header and then recovered quickly to claw the rebound off the line.
