Easy raider Berbatov sends Wigan boss Bruce down memory lane

"He just makes it look so easy that you wonder whether he can do more," said Bruce. "He reminds me of . . . top players in the way he links the play."

As he hesitated, just about everyone gathered around the Wigan manager was about to utter the name Eric Cantona for him.

Who else could the brilliant but brooding Berbatov bring to mind?

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"Don't go there," replied Bruce with a smile. "I can see the headlines already."

Fortunately he was less coy about his own striker, Emile Heskey.

Bruce admits he would probably never have been handed the task of saving Wigan from relegation had Heskey not been absent for two months with a foot injury.

It coincided with the six-game losing run that persuaded Wigan chairman Dave Whelan to show Chris Hutchings the door and pay Birmingham £3million for Bruce's services.

That was in November after a 4-0 hammering at Tottenham which left Wigan in 19th place and among the favourites for relegation. After this draw between the clubs, they are nearly home and dry.

"One of the reasons I'm standing here is that Chris was without Emile for so long," said Bruce, who paid Liverpool £6.25m for Heskey when he was Birmingham manager and then sold him for £5.5m to Wigan two years later.

"For a club like ours, if you miss your big players it is very, very difficult to cope."

Heskey certainly chooses the right moments to hit the target.

Five days after firing a late equaliser to give Wigan a point at Chelsea, Heskey struck again in the 12th minute, controlling Kevin Kilbane's cross from the left and evading Didier Zokora to drill home his fourth goal of the season.

It cancelled out a welltaken opener from Berbatov, who spent the afternoon displaying both sublime moments of skill and relative indifference.

Judging by the body language, Juande Ramos certainly has his work cut out to keep him at White Hart Lane next season.

Marcus Bent and Heskey were injured towards the end and will be wrapped in cotton wool this week. But Heskey should recover from a hamstring strain and Bent a cut leg in time to face Reading in the next instalment of what is still a finely-balanced relegation battle on Saturday. Victory will see Wigan over the finishing line.

"Next week is a huge opportunity for us," said Kilbane. "Reading will come here as a wounded animal, but we know what we have to do."