Once in a while, i found myself in a same situation.
To prevent the mess, i found that i can use a really long flat tip screw driver. On Motocraft fliter there are small ribs along the top edge of the filter. I wedge the flat tip screw driver in one of the rib and lever the screw dirver against one of the exhaust manifold bolt. It's hard to explain......If you take your screwdriver and put the tip in one of the rib(your feet sticiking out of front bumper position) you will see the bolt..
Anyway it worked everytime...(but only filters with ribs along the top of the filter)
