Wigan manager Steve Bruce has warned his team they cannot afford to relax despite taking a huge step towards Premier League survival.Latics have climbed to 12th, six points clear of the drop zone, following a four-match unbeaten run, which they aim to extend at Blackburn on Saturday.

But although last week's 1-0 win against relegation rivals Bolton has given Wigan some breathing space, Bruce pointed to last season to show they can still get dragged back into the survival scrap.

A 1-0 win at Manchester City last March sent the Latics eight points clear of the bottom three but Paul Jewell's side needed a final-day victory at Sheffield United to escape the drop.

Bruce does not want to endure another nail-biting finish and has urged his players to keep going until safety is assured.

"We're absolutely delighted with the form the team has shown of late but the one thing about the Premier League is it's unforgiving," he said.

"You can't think you've cracked it because football's got a horrible way of kicking you in the teeth.

"Last year Wigan beat Manchester City with nine games to go and everybody was thinking the club's safe.

"But they went on one of those horrible runs and didn't win again until the last game of the season when they beat Sheffield United to stay up, so we're not going to take anything for granted."

Wigan's revival has been founded on a solid defence, with Bruce naming the same back four in the last four games and England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland in top form.

While Latics leaked an average of almost three goals a game in the six games before Bruce took charge in November, they have now kept a clean sheet in five of their last six.

Bruce believes he has shored up the Wigan defence and continued stability is sure to steer the Latics to safety.

"Five out of six is a wonderful achievement by the goalkeeper and the back four, and the team itself," he said.

"The one thing we had to improve when I came here was that we were conceding an average of three goals a game, which is probably why I'm sitting in the seat now.

"We had to change the mentality because you can't keep conceding two or three goals if you're going to win games. We're not Real Madrid, and even they'd struggle to do that.

"We had to be more resilient and harder to beat, and thankfully the players have done that."

Although Wigan conceded three goals in the reverse fixture against Blackburn in December, the Latics managed to win 5-3 and halt a run of only one point in 10 matches.

That victory revived Wigan's chances of climbing out of danger and Bruce is hoping they can edge closer to survival at Ewood Park.

"I was made to look a mug that day," he said. "I said if we keep conceding three goals we're going to get beat, but we managed to score five goals and win that one 5-3.

"It was an unbelievable game and gave everybody a lift after a horrific run.

"We're inching towards that safety barrier and let's hope we can go and produce another performance like that and get a similar result."

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