Emile Heskey says Steve Bruce has lifted the confidence of Wigan Athletic's players since his arrival.

Heskey who also played for Bruce at Birmingham, has been impressed by the impact the new manager has had.

"He's a confident manager," the striker said. "He's dealt with relegation dogfights before so hopefully we can scrape through.

"He's made a few changes, every coach has his own training methods and the lads have taken to it well.

"Confidence was at a low, as it would be with any team after losing eight in a row, but him coming in and bringing his ideas have just perked everyone up. We're confident we can do it."