FORMER Ewood favourite John Filan stands between Rovers and a place in the last four of the Worthington Cup tonight as Second Division high-flyers Wigan Athletic attempt to pull off another giant-killing at the JJB Stadium.

Filan has been one of the stars of the Latics' march to the quarter-finals after helping to mastermind victories over the Premiership trio of West Brom, Manchester City and Fulham during previous rounds.

And he would love to add Rovers to that list of impressive scalps this evening, although the Aussie insists promotion rather than cup glory remains Athletic's number one priority.

"Everyone is enjoying the cup run but getting promotion from the Second Division has got to be our priority," said Filan.

"When people see the set-up at Wigan they'll realise we should be in a higher division than we are and we're currently in a great position to achieve that this season."

Filan was a popular figure at Ewood where he soon established himself as the club's number one keeper following his move from Coventry City.

But things then changed when Graeme Souness signed Brad Friedel from Liverpool on a free, prompting Filan to seek first team football elsewhere, although the colourful Aussie admits it was a wrench to leave.

"It was a big decision for me to leave Blackburn. It's a big club and to walk away from it I had to be sure about what I was doing," said Filan.

"But everything has worked out really well for me at Wigan. I'm really enjoying playing again and I'm lucky to be with such a great bunch of lads."

And, together with Wigan chairman Dave Whelan who is another former Rover, he would love to put one over his old club.