Vinny Perth insists he was always going to keep the faith with Pat Hoban after his penalty miss last Friday.
The league's top scorer last season struck the post from the spot in the 2-0 win over Cork City but stepped up again on Monday night to sink Bohs.
It was the second time in five weeks that Hoban had scored the winner from the spot against the Gypsies at Oriel Park.
"The penalty miss the other day, it hit the post, if the keeper saved it I would have questioned it," said Perth.
"We've missed three penalties this year - Chris Shields will never take a penalty again, so that's alright!
"Hitting the post is unfortunate but Pat has got real character, he's strong mentally."
Perth said the pair came to an unspoken agreement that Hoban would continue with the penalty duties in training last Sunday.
"Let's say we only half discussed it," he smiled. "When you know Pat's in the zone, he's in the zone.
"We'd always practice penalties so I said, 'Are you OK for a penalty tomorrow?', and he nodded at me, I nodded back and walked away and that was it .
"When you've got a player with that character, you leave it to him and you trust him."
Robbie Benson is set to make his return for the league leaders in three weeks - just after the mid-season break.
"Ironically, the leg break is going to fix quicker than the ankle," said Perth. "That mid-season break is a real opportunity for him."
The last-gasp 2-1 victory kept the Lilywhites at the top ahead of Shamrock Rovers on goal difference.
But Perth insisted it wasn't important that the title holders kept pace with the Hoops, who won 3-0 at Finn Harps.
"No,genuinely it's not, it hasn't been discussed even in the dressing room," he said. Nobody checked what the (Rovers) score was. It's about us, we can only control what we do.
"It's a bit of a boring answer but we believe we've got to look after ourselves over the next couple of weeks. We've come from a difficult position earlier on in the season for obvious reasons but we feel we're getting closer to where we should be.
"I don't think there's a ceiling for a lot of players in this group. We're trying to drive them on and have them obsessed about getting better and then the league table will look after itself if we do that."
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