Dean Ashton hit a double as Crewe romped home 4-1 in their basement battle with Gillingham.
Crewe's leading scorer hit his 12th and 13th of the season as the home side recovered from a poor start to run out convincing winners at Gresty Road.
David Vaughan put them on the right track ten minutes before the interval when he finished from 12 yards following a link-up with left back Anthony Tonkin.
However, Andy Hessenthaler's side should have got in front in the first minute when Darius Henderson fluffed a close-range header following Tonkin's poor clearance.
The Gillingham striker headed over keeper Clayton Ince into the side netting from just six yards out.
Crewe also survived another scare before they took the lead when Henderson sprung the offside trap to play in Darren Byfield, but the former Walsall man took the ball far too wide of the keeper. Although he did well to get a shot on target from the tightest of angles, the ball came off the underside of the woodwork and flew out.
Ashton came close to adding to Crewe's tally when he headed onto the roof of the net after Vaughan had belted a low drive inches past the post.
Gillingham rallied in the second half but rarely threatened to beat Ince - and paid the price when Crewe stretched their lead in the 71st minute, when Kenny Lunt's free-kick was finished off at the far post by Ashton.
Two minutes later Henderson reduced the arrears when he headed Danny Spiller's cross over Ince from the edge of the six-yard box.
But Crewe sealed the points with two further strikes in the closing ten minutes.
Ashton ran onto Lunt's pass and slotted past visiting keeper Jason Brown in the 80th minute and substitute Steve Jones picked up Ashton's feed and poked the ball past Brown with two minutes left.