Ian Atkins saluted his Oxford United side as they took over at the top of the division three table with three late goals to sink previous leaders Swansea City.
An entertaining clash looked certain to be heading for stalemate with five minutes remaining but the game was turned on its head when Kristian O'Leary brought down Oxford substitute Dean Whitehead in the box.
Captain Andy Crosby converted the penalty in front of the jubilant home fans, before some comical Swansea defending handed Oxford two more late goals.
With three minutes remaining Steve Basham mis-hit a long pass to Julian Alsop, but hesitation from Swansea keeper Brian Murphy allowed Alsop to poke the ball past the keeper into an open net.
But Swansea saved the best until last, when a high ball from Alsop presented no danger to the visitors defence only for Stuart Jones to head unchallenged over the head of his keeper to present Mark Rawle with an open goal eight yards out.
Rawle had only been on the pitch for 17 seconds and his goal was the first touch of the ball for him in an Oxford shirt.
An ecstatic Atkins said afterwards: "It is terrific to be top of the league, even if it is only after four games.
"To get ten points as early as this against the teams we have played, all of which will be in the top half at the end of the season, we simply could not have wished for a better start.
"We got one or two breaks today, I'm not denying that, but the way we stuck at it I thought we deserved them." Swansea boss Brian Flynn bemoaned his side's poor defending, saying: "It was totally self-inflicted. We brought defeat on ourselves today.
"I don't like singling out players, but our goalkeeper has got to take a hard look at himself over the last two goals."