But while the Gills' amazing run has hauled them up the table, Yeovil badly needed victory to keep their survival hopes alive and this result may have gone a long way to achieving that.
The outcome possibly hinged on a 16th-minute penalty decision which also saw visiting defender Brent Sancho red carded.
Gillingham were leading at the time with a far post knock-in from Tommy Black in the 12th minute.
Phil Jevons appeared to be clearly fouled and there could be little dispute over the award of the kick, but both sides admitted Sancho's sending off for a professional foul was harsh.
Jevons got up to knock in the spot-kick and Yeovil then took control. They went ahead in the 36th minute when, with goalkeeper Jason Brown off his line, Chris Cohen looped a header into the empty net.
The early stages of the second half belonged to Yeovil and they marched into a 4-1 lead with two excellent finishes, first from Paul Terry and then Arron Davies, who was put in the clear by a poor back header from Sean Clohessy, one of the three Gillingham substitutes called into action before half time.
Yeovil had done the job, or so they thought.
But they were shaken by a late Gillingham revival, which started in the 77th minute when Michael Flynn tried a 25 yarder which took a deflection to wrong foot Stephen Collis.
And in the 88th minute a fine goal from Andrew Crofts left the Glovers playing out a nervy five minutes of stoppage time.