Southend United scored four times in the first 40 minutes to seal an emphatic 4-0 victory over Gillingham on Easter Monday.
Michael Turner, Theo Robinson and Michael Kightly were all on-target before 20 minutes had been played while Stephen McLaughlin added a fourth before Gills striker Lee Martin saw red on the stroke of half-time.
The Shrimpers were looking to respond to their own 4-0 humbling at Plymouth on Friday and made a fantastic start as Turner headed home in the eighth minute from McLaughlin’s left-wing corner.
Three minutes later, Southend doubled their lead when Robinson lashed a volley from inside the area beyond Gillingham goalkeeper Tomas Holy, who had moments earlier kept out Ben Coker’s effort.
Southend went further ahead in the 18th minute when Kightly headed home after a stunning strike from McLaughlin had struck the underside of the crossbar.
McLaughlin also worked his way onto the scoresheet five minutes before half-time, heading home a right-wing corner from Kightly.
Gillingham’s misery was further compounded when Martin was given his marching orders for a poor challenge on Robinson just before the interval.
The visitors managed to avoid conceding in the second half but the damage was already done as they crashed to a third successive defeat in League One.
Defeat sees The Gills drop to 15th place in the league, crucially now 12 points outside the play-off places, but now only seven points outside the relegation zone with seven games left to play this season.
Steve Lovell’s side entertain Doncaster Rovers at Priestfield on Saturday with league leaders Blackburn Rovers coming to Kent just three days later.
Those two home games will go a long way to deciding where Gillingham will be playing their football next season.
Southend United line up: Oxley, Coker, Turner, Kightly, Timlin, Cox, McLaughlin (Harrison 69), Yearwood (Wright 82), Demetriou, Robinson (Ladapo 77), White.
Subs not used: Bishop, Wordsworth, Ferdinand, Mantom.
Goals: Turner (8), Robinson (11), Kightly (18), McLaughlin (39).
Booked: Timlin (87).
Gillingham line up: Holy, O’Neill (Nugent 51), Ogilvie (Wilkinson 25), Ehmer, Zakuani, Byrne, Hessenthaler (Nasseri H/T), Garmston, Wagstaff, Martin, Eaves.
Subs not used: List, Hadler, Murphy, Moussa.
Booked: Hessenthaler (15), Nugent (58), Wagstaff (62), Byrne (65), Zakuani (93).
Sent Off: Martin (45+4).
Referee: Mr Graham Salisbury.
Attendance: 8,466 (1,307 Gills)