Nigel Clough admitted Mansfield match-winner Lucas Akins was only on the pitch because injury forced his hand.
Substitute Akins struck a last-gasp winner, his 100th senior goal, to earn the Stags a 2-1 win over Colchester.
But manager Clough revealed he only brought him off the bench because Will Swan, who had earlier cancelled out Alex Newby’s free-kick for the visitors, had to come off with a knock.
Clough said: “The only reason he came on was because Will Swan’s ankle was sore. Otherwise I’d have been quite happy leaving things as they were.
“In the seven or eight minutes he was on, though, Lucas had two chances and one of them was the match-winner.
“It was a wonderful cross from Macca (Stephen McLaughlin) and he has managed to convert it from seven or eight yards. We’re not at our most fluent at the moment and are scrambling around for points a bit, but it was a win that came down to perseverance.
“Will Swan’s equaliser was also a great goal because, when it was hanging in the air, I was wondering how he was going to reach it, but he did and I think that probably surprised their keeper as well.”
Colchester boss Matt Bloomfield claimed his team were “robbed” of only their second away point of the season, with video replays clearly showing Akins had pulled Colchester captain Tommy Smith to the ground before meeting McLaughlin’s left-wing delivery.
A furious Bloomfield said: “I am trying to stay unemotional, but we were robbed at the death and that’s really tough to take because I should be speaking about how we have taken a good point on the road. It was a decision that does not even come down to opinion and it was incredible that it wasn’t given.”
Bloomfield took heart from his struggling side’s performance, though, coming after a 3-0 win over Doncaster in their previous league outing.
“I think anyone will have seen over the last two months, since I came in the building, things are improving and, if we keep performing like we are doing, then the results will come,” he said.
“We stood toe to toe with them at an away ground with a good atmosphere where the crowd get right behind their team.
“We also had some good chances to go ahead again in the second half. There were some really good individual performances and, as a team, we played really well, although we conceded from two crosses, so we will be looking at working on that.”
