Boston United chalked up a welcome three points to ease their plight at the basement end of the table.
But they had to work hard for their success against a lively Cheltenham side, who battled well despite having keeper Steve Book sent off in the 64th minute.
Boston, for their part, also lost a man in the dying moments when Tom Bennett was dismissed after a needless assault on Ben Cleverley.
The game's first chance of note fell Boston's way in the fourth minute when Bennett found space on the edge of the visitors' box, but he fired wide.
Moments later, space opened up for Mark Angel but again the finish was wayward.
More home pressure in the 11th minute then saw Lee Thompson cross for Graeme Jones, but the striker fired inches wide.
Cheltenham's best response came on 18 minutes when Graham Fyfe made ground down the right, but saw a low drive deflected wide.
On 22 minutes, though, Cheltenham went ahead when Grant McCann curled a 25-yard free-kick over the home wall and past a stranded Paul Bastock.
Shortly afterwards, both Bob Taylor and Paul Brayson shot wide as Cheltenham sought to double their lead.
But Boston drew level in the 28th minute when Jones hooked the ball over from the left and Bennett headed his first goal in United colours and in the 33rd minute, Boston took the lead with Stuart Balmer heading in from an Angel corner.
The lively nature of the encounter showed no let-up in the second half, notably with Cheltenham piling forward in search of an equaliser and Brayson and McCann both going close.
But Boston hit back and went further ahead when Bennett chipped through for Angel to shake off Kevin Amankwaah and fire past Book.
The visitors, though, still tried to respond and McCann tested Bastock with an angled drive.
But in the 64th minute, drama erupted when visiting keeper Book was sent off after dashing out of his area to flatten Simon Weatherstone.
With no keeper on the bench, Cheltenham had to send on striker Damian Spencer to don the goalie's shirt.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Cheltenham remained positive and on 69 minutes, McCann wriggled through four home tackles seeing his final effort blocked for a corner.
Boston never got their game going forward after that and didn't trouble Spencer.
Home hero Bennett then turned villain on 88 minutes when he also saw red for inexplicably grabbing Cleverley round the neck.
Boston boss Neil Thompson was happy with the outcome, he said: "We got three points and that was the main thing.
"It wasn't necessarily too pretty, but we got our reward for sticking at it. We went a goal down, but got a great reaction from the players." Cheltenham boss Bobby Gould: "I don't think any script could be written like that, we went in front early on, but then their left winger hit a purple patch and we couldn't stop the service.
"We had some good efforts and showed potential, but on the day it wasn't enough."