Cody McDonald's seventh goal in his last six games downed Northampton and kept Gillingham's superb start to 2011 going with a 1-0 win.
After netting a hat-trick against Stockport last week, McDonald continued his hot streak after volleying in on the half hour mark.
Gillingham, who have now won seven of their last eight games, should have taken the lead on three minutes when Curtis Weston was put clean through but Chris Dunn in the Cobblers goal kept him out.
McDonald twice went close, first dragging his shot just wide before forcing Dunn into a brilliant low save.
But Dunn was finally beaten on the half hour mark when Josh Gowling nodded down Danny Spiller's freekick for the on-loan Norwich man to emphatically volley in.
The one-way traffic continued after the break and again McDonald was at the heart of the action as he was played clean through on 57 minutes only to see his chip land on the roof of the net.
McDonald also miscontrollled when played in by John Nutter and substitute Luke Rooney fired wide late on as Gillingham completely dominated the Cobblers.
Source: DSG
Source: DSG