Al Ahly head coach Pitso Mosimane breathed a collective sigh of relief after an important result ahead of a gruelling fixture schedule in May.
The Red Devils downed Al Ittihad 2-1 in Alexandria on Thursday evening to keep up the pace with league leaders Zamalek who hold a four-point advantage.
Mosimane's outfit has two games in hand but Badr Banoun's penalty and a Mohamed Magdy strike handed more than three points but rather breathing space ahead of their clash with the White Knights and the CAF Champions League quarter-final against his former club, Mamelodi Sundowns.
"A bit of a relief for us, we've been going through difficult times, we've been playing well but didn't win. And sometimes playing well doesn't help when you don't win," he said after the win at the Alexandria Stadium.
"It can break the confidence, unlike tonight we scored earlier, we didn't chase the game and we even scored a second goal. Unfortunately, the third was regarded as off-side but Alhamdulillah (thank God) - we won the match."
Scroll through the gallery to see the new state of the art R45-million Ahly branch in Luxor, Egypt
The two-time CAF Champions League winner cited the improved performance was due to going two goals up before the hour mark as the recent anxiety around their drop in form seemingly faded.
While the home side did grab a stoppage-time consolation through Mohamed Sabahi, Mosimane was delighted to have offered some much-needed rest to some key performers in his squad.
"When you are 2-0, psychologically your players become confident on the ball and they can play the way we want, the way we always play, we could pass the ball and also substitutes that's not tactical because Yasser [Ibrahim] had a good game.
"There's no need to take him out but Ayman [Ashraf] hasn't been playing, he's been out a long time through injury, so the substitute Ayman was coming off no matter the result of the game, he has to come on and gain some minutes before the big program we have with Zamalek, [Mamelodi] Sundowns two times and also [RS Berkane]."
The Club of the Century are scheduled for the Cairo derby in the league on Monday with the double header against Sundowns between their CAF Super Cup final against RS Berkane.