Battling Stockport County hung on for a priceless victory against fellow second division strugglers Grimsby Town, and after the game home manager Sammy McIlroy was clearly a relieved man.
He said: "It was a great victory for us. It's not about pretty football at this stage of the season, it's all about points, and we scraped over the line today.
"It was very nervous towards the end, their goal lifted them and there was still quite a bit of time to go.
"But Grimsby should have been dead and buried in the first 20 minutes. We had four or five excellent chances up to that point." The home side, on the back of a nine-game unbeaten run, got off to a flying start thanks to two goals inside the opening ten minutes.
On six minutes Lee Cartwright lifted the ball into the box, Aaron Wilbraham nodded down and there was Jon Daly who rifled home with a sweet volley.
Four minutes later Wilbraham was again the provider when he squared the ball for Danny Jackman, who could not miss from three yards out.
It was almost game over after 15 minutes when Wilbraham thumped a rebound against the crossbar after veteran Grimsby keeper Alan Fettis had denied Daly.
After the break, the visitors rallied, and after Phil Jevons had hit the crossbar with an acrobatic volley, substitute Graham Hockless made an immediate impact when his 40-yard drive flew into the top corner to make it 2-1.
But that wasn't enough for the Mariners, whose manager Nicky Law later admitted that maximum points from their last two games will be required to avoid the drop into Division Three.