Robins left to take the Huddersfield hot seat on Thursday but Coventry shrugged off that loss to win 2-0 at Gigg Lane.
Goals from Leon Clarke and Carl Baker vindicated Carsley's confidence and pulled his side within five points of the play-off places.
"There wasn't an after-effect," Carsley said.
"We've got some good players here and they're playing to their potential. Players are pretty selfish in the respect that they just get on with it and they did that.
"They did themselves justice. They've been accused in the past of not living up to expectations but that was one thing they couldn't be accused of here.
"We only did two training sessions before the game so the result had nothing to do with me, it was the players.
"It has felt a bit weird the last couple of days and it wasn't something I've been expecting but I enjoyed it."
Clarke got Coventry off to a flyer, scoring within three minutes, and Carsley believes it was crucial.
He said: "It was a great start and I thought Leon did really well. He makes such a difference when he runs around and looks enthusiastic. He causes defenders problems. He's got a really good goalscoring record and needs to keep that up. There were six or seven players you could point out, though."
