Wayne Rooney may not have enjoyed it much but Manchester United's hard-fought 1-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park this afternoon could prove priceless.
Rooney missed two sitters and was booked for dissent in a frustrating game for the England striker, but United will take huge satisfaction from this result, settled thanks to Louis Saha's 64th-minute finish.
It means United stay three points ahead of Chelsea - a handy buffer to have when Jose Mourinho's men come to Old Trafford in a fortnight - and is another sign that Sir Alex Ferguson's men should be regarded as current title favourites.
Ewood Park has proved an unhappy venue in the recent past - this was United's first win in the league at Blackburn's ground since 1998, and it was also their sixth successive victory in the Premiership.
No wonder United were unchanged from their last league outing, while Rovers suffered from several key injury absentees - Robbie Savage, Ryan Nelsen and Steven Reid were all badly missed.
United set the tempo from the start and in the second minute Cristiano Ronaldo drove a direct free-kick into the wall after David Bentley had been lucky to escape a booking when his well-judged foul prevented Saha breaking away.
The conditions of driving rain and gale-force winds should have been more to Blackburn's liking than United's but both teams found themselves wrong-footed by the results of the early downpour.
First, Brad Friedel slipped after Lucas Neill's backpass held up on the pitch and his clearance skidded to the feet of Ronaldo, but when the Portuguese winger cut inside to fire towards the empty net he too fell victim to the treacherous turf and ended up on his backside.
Blackburn did manage to force United back with two half-decent efforts, when Shabani Nonda's 25-yard strike was sent spinning just over the bar by a deflection off Nemanja Vidic, then Andre Ooijer headed the resulting corner wide from a good position.
Rooney tried to impose himself on the game - with mixed results. The England striker was looking his usual self when he beat Brett Emerton and fired in from a narrow angle only for Friedel to save with his feet.
Nonda tried the spectacular with an overhead kick but could not find the target, then Saha sent a low drive skimming into the advertising hoarding nearest Friedel's goal after Rovers were sloppy in possession in midfield.
Then came the part of the match Rooney would rather forget, beginning with when he missed a sitter from Ronaldo's devastating cross.
The winger sent the ball across the six-yard box at pace but though Rooney connected with it at the far post it somehow got stuck under his feet and a relieved Blackburn were able to clear.
Rooney was then guilty of an even worse miss after Friedel had brilliantly saved Saha's low strike. The ball bounced free and Rooney, with the goal at his mercy, sliced horribly wide.
To make matters worse for the striker he was then booked for dissent after Riley had cautioned Vidic for a foul.
Ferguson was forced into making a change at the break and John O'Shea came on in place of the injured Gary Neville.
Ronaldo was immediately in the thick of action again with a left-footed shot from 20 yards that missed the target.
Patrice Evra was next in the book after a rash challenge felled Bentley. From the free-kick, Morten Gamst Pedersen sent in an inswinger and Zurab Khizanishvili was agonisingly close to opening the scoring with a flicked header.
Pedersen's inswingers are his trademark and his corner caught out Edwin van der Sar with the United keeper relieved to see the ball cannon back off the crossbar.
Rooney was thwarted again but this time after some brilliance by the 21-year-old. He turned Ooijer inside out before unleashing a ferocious shot that Friedel somehow saved one-handed.
There was only brief respite for Blackburn though because in the 64th minute they fell behind.
Rooney held the ball up despite intense pressure and fed O'Shea who delivered a penetrating cross to the far post. Ryan Giggs managed, at full stretch, to divert the ball across goal for Saha to hook past Friedel from an almost prone position.
Saha sent a left-footed effort curling wide from 25 yards, then van der Sar rescued United by punching away Bentley's cross a moment before Benni McCarthy arrived.
With three minutes left, Blackburn were given a free-kick after Van der Sar handled outside his area.
Via Pedersen and Tugay, the ball dropped to McCarthy who rifled a shot towards goal only for the United keeper to save at the second attempt and secure a valuable victory.
