Carlisle boss Paul Simpson admitted he had settled for a draw at Swindon before Ryan Edmondson’s stoppage-time winner kept the second-placed Cumbrians flying high.
Edmondson’s last-gasp header extended Carlisle’s winning run to four matches and maintained their grip on the automatic promotion places.
Honest Simpson said: “You’ve just got to keep going right through to the end.
“I would have been quite happy with the point today the way the game was, but to get a win?
“Wow, what a fantastic result for us and I’m sure they’re absolutely gutted because it’s fair to say they didn’t deserve to lose.
“But there’s no way I’m apologising. Delighted to take it, we just move on to the next game.
“So you have to keep that belief. You’ve got to keep the same work rate that we have, and make sure we stay in games better and stay ahead in games.”
Simpson also hailed his super-sub Edmondson for his heroics after coming back from injury.
He said: “It’s absolutely brilliant. He’s worked so hard to keep himself right as soon as he could from surgeries.
“He’s worked hard on his fitness and I still think he’s rusty.
“But that will give him a lift, everybody in the group a lift, the staff a lift and 500-odd supporters here and however many thousand listening back at home.
“We thought we could get a set-play today because we felt as though there was an area in terms of their zonal marking that we thought we could exploit.”
Both teams struggled to create clear-cut chances in a first half lacking in quality in the final third.
It took until 32 minutes for either goalkeeper to be tested when Carlisle’s Joe Garner headed tamely into the arms of Sol Brynn from Owen Moxon’s cross.
Jack Armer came close to giving the visitors the lead, but his close-range effort was blocked on its way to goal before he made amends with a superb finish to break the deadlock six minutes into the second half.
Swindon looked to have got off the hook when striker Charlie Austin headed against his own crossbar from a corner but the rebound fell kindly for Armer to rifle home from the edge of the box.
Veteran Austin should have equalised straight from the re-start but made a mess of his header and bundled the ball wide from eight yards.
Swindon substitute Tyrese Shade looked to have salvaged a point with a calm left-foot finish from midway inside the penalty area 10 minutes from time.
But Edmondson broke Swindon’s resolve by heading in a corner with virtually the last touch of the game.
Swindon boss Jody Morris was frustrated after giving away a cheap corner after trying to play it out from the back.
Morris said: “If you gift the opposition the opportunity to sling the ball in the box you are going to give yourself a problem you never had.
“We were in the ascendency. There was only one team that was going to win the game, there was 30 seconds to go.
“Why we were playing out I just don’t know. On the bench we all wanted the ball forward.
“We had played some really nice stuff. I am caught between really wanting to have a pop at the lads – but also they don’t deserve that when they have played as well as they did.
“We looked like the team that was going to win it, if we had better quality in the final third with the final pass, we could have had two or three and put the game to bed.
“We’ve shot ourselves in the foot and we’ve played into their hands.
“This was tough to take but that’s what happens in football if you make those types of mistakes.
“It’s silly to roll it out, silly to play in that position when there’s 40 seconds on it.”
