Nafi Tuitavake scored in the last minute to put Northampton in pole position to qualify from Pool 3 of the Anglo-Welsh Cup following a 24-20 triumph over Sale at the AJ Bell Stadium.
With the teams making alterations for this encounter, the match unsurprisingly took a while to get going, but when it did the Greater Manchester outfit were the ones to initially profit.
Sam Moore touched down after 30 minutes to move Sale into the lead before Will Addison scored a penalty on the stroke of half-time.
Northampton responded, however, and two brilliantly worked efforts from Ken Pisi and Ben Nutley moved them into a 14-8 advantage.
Despite that setback, the Sharks were not done and Luke James reduced the arrears.
James Grayson added a penalty for the Saints, but the hosts appeared to have secured the victory through Marc Jones' late try.
There was one last sting in the tail, though, and Tuitavake won the game for Northampton.
Both sides were reasonably experienced, especially considering the nature of the competition, and there was little to separate them.
Paolo Odogwu almost broke the deadlock by sprinting down the left wing after an excellent set-piece move, but that was stopped two metres short of the line.
Northampton also had their moments, with Nutley displaying good awareness to spot a gap down the blindside and move into Sharks' territory, but it was a disappointing half of rugby.
Neither team could take advantage of their chances and that was demonstrated when yet another incursion by Sale's left wing was not finished off.
Steve Diamond's men persisted, however, and they were eventually rewarded as Faf de Klerk and Bryn Evans linked to help send former England Under-18 international Moore across the whitewash.
The hosts were now very much in the ascendancy and, after Addison and James had combined, Tom Stephenson was shown a yellow card, which allowed the outside centre to kick the home side 8-0 ahead at the break.
Despite beginning the second period a man short, the Saints dictated proceedings while Stephenson was off the field and they scored a brilliantly worked try.
Pisi made the initial break, found Cobus Reinach in support and the scrum-half passed to the wing to go over unopposed.
Reinach then came to the fore for the second time as he scampered clear off a turnover, combined with Tuitavake before the centre gave Nutley a simple score.
Sale hit back via James, following Kieran Wilkinson's inch-perfect cross-field kick, but Grayson's three-pointer gave Northampton a 17-13 advantage going into the final 18 minutes.
The Sharks then crossed the whitewash through Jones and looked to have sealed the win, but Tuitavake went over in the last play of the match to snatch a dramatic victory.