Paul Simpson reacts to Carlisle United's win at Swindon Town

Ryan Edmondson’s header in the 96th minute earned a fourth straight victory in the most dramatic circumstance.

It kept the Blues second in League Two and their promotion bandwagon rolling.

And manager Simpson admitted the scenes at the end were hugely memorable.

“I’m delighted for the lads that they got their win, and I’m delighted for the supporters who made their way here, because that’s a nice scene when you see the players all sliding in their knees in front of the fans,” he said.

“That’s what we’re in this business for, isn’t it?”

Substitute Edmondson’s goal came on his return from a shoulder injury that had kept him out since December.

It won the game in the dying seconds after Jack Armer’s fine opener had been cancelled out by Swindon sub Tyrese Shade.

United’s win prevented next weekend’s opponents Stevenage from overtaking them in the automatic promotion places.

And it put them four points clear of the play-off zone with 11 games to go.

“You’ve just got to keep going right through to the end,” added Simpson.

READ MORE: Our big-match verdict on the Blues' dramatic win at Swindon

“And you know something? I’d have been quite happy with a point, the way the game was.

“To get a win…wow, what a fantastic result for us, and I’m sure Swindon are absolutely gutted.

“It’s fair to say they didn’t deserve to lose. But there’s no way I’m apologising, I’m delighted to take it and we move onto the next.”

Simpson said he felt Edmondson would be a more effective substitute in the game than top scorer Kristian Dennis, who did not get on.

His decision was vindicated when the ex-Leeds United man met Owen Moxon’s deep corner to trigger jubilant scenes.

“I’m sure people will have looked and thought that Kris Dennis should get on as our leading scorer, but I just felt that this one was about Ryan Edmondson getting on there to compete and win things for us,” said Simpson.

“He looks rusty, I admit that, and he needs more fitness work in him, but I felt that his physicality and aerial presence might just give us something a little bit different.

“On this occasion I was right, which is good for all of us.”

After a tight first half, Armer shot United ahead with his second goal of the season, before Shade hit back for Jody Morris’s Robins.

“What a finish,” he said of the wing-back’s effort. “When it came out I thought he was stretching too far and too much, but he kept his composure so well.

“He stayed calm, on the inside of his right foot, and what a wonderful finish.”

Celebrations after Ryan Edmondson's winner (Image: Gareth Williams / AH Pix)

Swindon hit back after that and Simpson admitted it was a challenging spell.

“I blame myself a bit for the goal we conceded because I wanted to change our shape in midfield a bit before and couldn’t get the message on,” he said.

“It’s really hard when the game’s so frantic and their crowd are making a noise and ours are shouting, and I couldn’t get the message on to change it to go with a four across midfield, and dropping Omari Patrick in.

“We decided to make the change, putting JK Gordon on, and Gibbo [Jordan Gibson] on the other side to try and shore it up a bit.

“Unfortunately we conceded the goal in that time, but we showed character to keep going.”

Simpson also praised the discipline shown by Jon Mellish in earlier testing spells.

“I thought the first half wasn’t easy to deal with either, but we handled it really well,” the manager added.

“They had Charlie Austin and Jonny Williams who kept going high then dropping in and trying to drag centre-backs out, to expose us a bit with [Rushian] Hepburn-Murphy to get through the middle.

“But I thought Jon Mellish played a proper centre half’s role, in a game where they, in my opinion, purposely set about trying to wind him up and get him booked or even sent off.

“But he kept his head, kept a real discipline about him. He played as a centre back instead of a marauding one which he normally does, and he dealt with a lot of the threats of Hepburn-Murphy.”

Simpson admitted the celebrations at the end were something to savour, adding: “We’ve got everybody running down the touchline to join in, and I hope that people don’t think that’s disrespectful, it was just the emotion of it all and the excitement.

“I couldn’t actually move because somebody had jumped on my back, and I don’t know who that was, but it’s a brilliant result for us and it makes the journey home better.”