Sir Alex Ferguson saw his Manchester United side stretch their lead at the top of the table to three points over Arsenal on Wednesday night but admitted he was relieved to have secured a 2-1 victory at Bolton.
United appeared to be in the driving seat when Paul Scholes and Ruud van Nistelrooy scored in the first half to put the Red Devils in a commanding position at the break but The Trotters battled back and got a consolation goal when Gary Neville, under pressure from Youri Djorkaeff, headed into his own net for the second time in 12 days.
To complete what was ultimately a fruitless night for the home side, defender Ricardo Gardner could be out for the season after suffering medial ligament damage after a challenge with Quinton Fortune.
Things are looking brighter for United though, with Arsenal drawing and Chelsea losing, and Ferguson said: "They were good results for us. It has been a good night's work."
That might not have been the case had it not been for the heroics of United's in-form American goalkeeper Tim Howard, who made a string of impressive saves and was only beaten in the end by one of his own players.
"He has been like that all season and is improving all the time," said Ferguson.
"The experience of playing in games like this where the atmosphere is tense will bring him on an awful lot. Tim made three or four fantastic saves. The one he produced from Okocha was outstanding."
Ferguson admitted that Bolton, who have proved difficult opponents for the top teams in the last two seasons, had given them a real fight to the finish.
"It was a pulsating game where we had to grind a result out," he added. "Bolton never gave in and were a real handful to play against. It is no surprise the results they have been getting as they have improved remarkably.
"I am very pleased. It is a good result and we were hanging on a wee bit but that's what we expected of Bolton."
If Howard was the hero at the back for United, there's no doubting that Paul Scholes was the out-field star for United. Singled out by Bolton boss Sam Allardyce before the game as the 'first person he'd buy if he could sign anyone in Europe', Scholes once again proved what a genius he is.
He struck the opening goal in the 24th minute after a flowing move, pouncing on a rebound after a van Nistelrooy shot was saved, and then he sublimely played Ryan Giggs through on goal to cross for the Dutchman to notch United's second.
For all the determination and commitment that Bolton put in, Allardyce was left frustrated at the goals they gave away: "We have got to get back to keeping clean sheets," he said. "I am disappointed as we gave ourselves too big a mountain to climb.
"From an attacking point of view we did very well in the first half but we've not defended correctly. We've allowed Manchester United to sneak a couple of goals we shouldn't have allowed them to. That's cost us not getting anything from the game."
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