Steve Baker admitted that when Faversham Town's Jack Harris was one-on-one with keeper Milan Stojsavljevic in the second half of Saturday's match, he feared the worst.
Chipstead had been 2-0 up, but at the time of Harris going through it was 2-1 and CHipstead were down to ten men.
Stojsavljevic stretched out a long leg to deny the frontman brilliantly though, and thereafter the Ryman League Division One South's early season pacesetters looked comfortable and saw out their fifth straight win since the campaign started to sit proudly atop the table.
Baker said: "I thought we showed a real steel about us. That game could have gone either way after the sending off and they are the games last year we wouldn't have got anything out of.
"We showed good character and it's a good win, I'm massively delighted about that.
"One of the most pleasing things is sometimes last year when we were worried about going down, you just play the best 11 and hopefully get a result, but today we've picked a particular system, dropping two or three key players because we thought it was right to go up against the way Faversham play.
"Key moments change games and we're fortunate with Milan, one-on-one he's top drawer. I thought when the geezer went through 'goal' but he's made a great stop and we settled down after that and could have had a few more goals."
Now Chipstead go to Whyteleafe on Bank Holiday Monday, aiming to make it a perfect August.
Baker added: "We know it's a tough test, it's a local derby, they've had a good start, they're a good attacking side, but I'd like to go there and nick something.
"If the lads come away from there with anything I'll be highly delighted. We'll go there full of confidence, but not arrogance because we know it's going to be a really tough test."
