Cheltenham Town took a giant stride towards third division survival but plunged managerless Scunthorpe United closer to the drop zone with this result.
The Robins secured their first win for eight matches but it's a similar number of games without a win for the Iron, who scored first at Whaddon Road but were pegged back by strikes either side of half-time.
Scunthorpe had the better of the early exchanges although Cheltenham almost grabbed a 16th minute lead when a speculative shot from Martin Devaney rebounded off the crossbar.
But the visitors took the lead on 29 minutes when a right-wing corner was met with a poor defensive header from Jamie Victory, former Grimsby Town manager Paul Groves pouncing on the loose ball to score from eight yards.
Cheltenham manager John Ward made an immediate tactical change, sacrificing midfielder Graham Fyfe and sending on lively forward Paul Brayson, and the move paid dividends almost immediately.
Brayson levelled the scores a minute before half-time when he ran onto a ball over the defence from John Finnigan and guided a low shot in off the far post.
Four minutes into the second half Brayson crossed from the right, the ball was only half-cleared and he crossed again for an unmarked Damian Spencer to score with a close-range header.
Cheltenham goalkeeper Shane Higgs was called upon to make an impressive block from Steve MacLean late in the game but despite heavy pressure in the closing stages, Scunthorpe were unable to come up with an equaliser.
"It was a vital win," said Cheltenham manager John Ward.
"I always think there is more pressure at home to win the games and there was some anxiety in our opening to the game.
"It was nice to get the goal just before half-time and I thought the second half was a more thorough performance from us." Scunthorpe, with whom former Scotland international Colin Hendry has recently been linked with the manager's job, were left to ponder some more untidy defensive work.
Caretaker-manager Russ Wilcox said: "The result is the story of our season, the lads are devastated but they couldn't give any more effort.
"It is individual errors that are costing us. We just seem to be chasing games at the moment. Three of the four games I have been in charge we should have won."