Substitute Jeff Goulding scored the game's only goal 10 minutes from time at Whaddon Road on Saturday but Howarth admitted it was former Barnet midfielder Sam Deering who helped secure the points.
The struggling visitors were awarded a penalty for handball midway through the second half but Robins keeper Scott Brown went the right way and palmed away Mark Byrne's spot kick.
"It was an excellent save [from the penalty] and the kid took it well," Howarth admitted.
"Sam Deering in the dugout knows where he normally puts them and we managed to get a message out. It was a good save. I couldn't see if it was handball or not, it was one of those where I would be certain it wasn't a deliberate handball. I thought we had one at the other end that the linesman gave but the ref overruled.
"It was a tough game, coming off the back of two defeats and two poor performances on our behalf. Being back at home and playing a team at the bottom of the league is a tough ask when your confidence levels can be a little bit low.
"I thought we did all the pressing for the majority of the game. We just didn't test the keeper enough and couldn't get the goals we wanted to make the game safe. Jeff came on and scored a great goal and when that went in I felt we could go on and win it. He's a very talented player, he's a big strong lad. To see the shot was on and to execute it like he did was every credit to him."
