Struggling Gillingham's mini revival was halted by a 2-0 defeat at promotion-chasing Mansfield.
Bringing in 10 new players last month coupled with three wins and a draw in four games had lifted Gills' hopes.
But two first-half strikes saw the home side to a comfortable victory.
Gillingham forced the early pace without really creating anything. Mansfield soon got a grip and took a 21st-minute lead. Stephen Quinn found Ollie Clarke on the right of the area and he drilled a stinging low finish off the inside of the near post.
After Glenn Morris had clawed a goalbound Riley Harbottle header from under the angle, it was 2-0 in the 35th minute.
Max Ehmer was penalised for holding Lucas Akins in the box and Akins punished him from the spot with a powerful penalty to the right beyond the dive of Morris.
Five minutes after the restart, Morris was at full stretch to keep out Akins' header from a Quinn corner.
Sub George Lapslie, who joined Gillingham from the Stags last month, almost halved the deficit after 73 minutes but Scott Flinders kept out his six-yard header with a brilliant reaction save.