Peter Whittingham’s injury-time penalty secured three points for Cardiff City as they came from behind against already-relegated Bolton.
The win keeps the Bluebirds slim chance of a play-off place alive as rivals Sheffield Wednesday drew with Derby County.
Russell Slade’s side are four points behind the sixth-placed Owls going into a make or break game at Hillsborough next week.
Slade, 55, said: “We left it late, if I had any hair, it would all be gone.
“Our chances are still slim, but probably not as slim as they were before a ball was kicked.
“The gap is now four points and we have a cup final next weekend. We need to dust ourselves down and be ready for it.”
Cardiff did not get off to the best of starts when Zach Clough curled in a free-kick after seven minutes.
But the away side were reduced to ten men midway through the first half when Niall Maher was sent off for a flailing arm on Craig Noone.
That led to a Cardiff onslaught for the rest of the 90 minutes but Slade’s men struggled to break down a stubborn Bolton side.
They did level ten minutes after the break as Kenneth Zohore fired through Ben Amos’ legs before Whittingham eventually sealed the win.
Sub Kadeem Harris was brought down in the area as City piled bodies forward and Whittingham slotted home the spot-kick with the last kick of the game.
Slade added: “We did everything we possibly could as a management team, we threw Sean Morrison up there and Kadeem Harris so we had a bit more thrust.
“The fans stuck with us which was good, and we produced an exciting finale, we only have one home game left to go and we’re proud of our home record with only two defeats.
“We have to prepare for the Sheffield Wednesday game as normal, but we will do some work on the opposition and see what bodies we have available.
A win against Wednesday would cut the Yorkshire side’s advantage to one point going into the final day.
Slade added: “I’ve always said that if we can take it to the last game of the season, at home, then we would take that.
“If we win then Wednesday have to go to Wolves and we face Birmingham at home.
“But those games will be irrelevant unless we win at Wednesday.”