Steve Evans had to quickly get himself out of bed to help land Harvey White from Tottenham Hotspur.
Stevenage ended up landing the talented young midfielder to go along side other deadline day captures, Charlie McNeill on loan from Manchester United and Tranmere striker Kane Hemmings.
But the "wonderful" permanent deal for White came with just minutes to spare.
Evans said: "At 10.30pm last night, I was at home, and Leon Hunter told me to go to bed as we were done.
"But at 10.45pm, he rang me up to say we have permission from Spurs to do this and I told him good luck.
"I got on the phone to Harvey, Leon got on the phone to Harvey’s representatives and our club secretary got on the phone to Tottenham and did his bit.
"We have to thank Tottenham. They asked for a little extension so we could get this done, they are allowed to do that.
"But everything was done, it was just a case of finalities and the processes.
"I then got a call shortly after to say it had been registered and he was a Stevenage player on a permanent basis."
It wasn't the only deal that came late on with Harrogate Town snapping up striker Josh March for an undisclosed fee.
That had been as cover for the departing Luke Armstrong but his move to Wrexham fell through when the documents weren't signed fully.
Evans though explained the switch suited all parties.
He said: "Harrogate had tried to take Josh in the summer, we turned down some bids, but we gave Josh permission to speak.
"With his current situation, having a little baby, and his wife’s family is from York way so it ticked the boxes."
Hemmings had been the player who had personally called Evans early on Friday moning, with the desire to link up with his gaffer from his Mansfield Town days.
"I said to Leon Hunter early on in the morning that I wanted to sign Kane Hemmings," said Evans.
"Leon took that on board and he discussed that with the chairman and the board about what it would take and then he began chatting to Kane’s representatives.
"We missed Kane being available [at Orient] by a minute.
"I got permission to speak to Kane and the first thing he said was he wanted to be back with me, ‘just make this happen’.
"He is a fantastic striker and our fans will love watching him."
The final signing was that of Charlie McNeill who came in on loan from Manchester United and scored on his debut at Leyton Orient.
"He will score goals," said Evans, "I totally believe he will score goals.
"Staff at Manchester United, including the manager, think really highly of him.
"I had two chats with the manager earlier in the week and they said League One will be good for him, especially the way we play.
"We are getting stronger."
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