A frustrating afternoon for Aston Villa saw them held to a 0-0 draw by Wigan at Villa Park. A poor first half came to life in the second period as Villa tore into the visitors.

Zat Knight hit a post, Paul Scharner twice cleared off the line for Wigan and Gabriel Agbonlahor, Emile Heskey and John Carew were all denied by last-ditch tackles.

"A draw was frustrating in that we had some great chances but could not score but apart from that I was delighted with all the other areas of our play. We are 12 games unbeaten in the Premier League which is great, said Villa boss Martin O'Neill.

"Wigan had drawn with Liverpool only a couple of days ago and they are a fine side.

"They had a couple of chances but the second half belonged to us but we could not force the ball in.

"But the effort from my players was phenomenal."

Wigan boss Steve Bruce admitted it was a gritty performance.

"It was backs to the wall for us for much of the time.

"We were out on our feet after our after the midweek game we had against Liverpool.

"We rode our luck a bit but we had two good chances and should have scored from both.

"In the second half it was an onslaught and we had to hold on.

"Our attitude was terrific and we got away with a point."