Burton scored a quickfire double to steal a vital 2-1 win at Rotherham, their first success on the road this season.
The Millers dominated 85 minutes of the Sky Bet Championship encounter at New York Stadium, but the five first-half minutes where Chris O'Grady and Jackson Irvine scored proved pivotal as Burton registered their first ever away win in the second tier.
It moved them 12 points clear of their bottom-placed hosts and they will be reasonably confident they will not be overhauled by the Millers in the second half of the season.
It was a night of frustration for Paul Warne's men, who could not add to Tom Adeyemi's goal in first-half stoppage time, despite a host of fine chances and their good work against Wigan on Boxing Day was undone as they sit 10 points adrift of safety.
Joe Newell had a deflected shot after a neat passing move in the opening exchanges, Danny Ward thundered in a swerving free-kick which Jon McLaughlin palmed away and Izzy Brown did not connect properly from a decent position just inside the area.
Still Rotherham pressed and Richard Wood put a pair of headers wide before Newell missed another fine chance when he could only poke an effort at McLaughlin after a superb jinking run.
But their failure to take the lead inevitably cost them dear and Burton hit them with a two-goal salvo in the space of five minutes before the break which effectively decided the contest.
The first came in the 36th minute and was the result of some slapdash goalkeeping from Lewis Price, who could only spill the tamest of shots from Lucas Akins and O'Grady tapped home to silence the boo boys, who remain unhappy that their former striker refused a pay deferral during their 2007 administration.
The crucial second came when John Brayford whipped in a delicious cross which Irvine converted with a flying header as it crashed in off the crossbar.
Rotherham gave themselves hope in first-half stoppage time, though, as Adeyemi poked home a rebound after Wood's header had been saved from Newell's free-kick.
That set up the second half for an attack versus defence exercise as Rotherham threw everything at Burton in hope of wiping out their deficit and chances were regular.
Anthony Forde shot weakly at McLaughlin, the Burton keeper made another save to deny Ward, Brown fizzed an effort wide before the best opportunity of the lot came when a loose ball fell to defender Darnell Fisher at the far post but he put his shot wide when the goal was gaping.
Still the efforts rained in on goal as Peter Odemwingie twice tested McLaughlin but it was just not Rotherham's night.
Rotherham caretaker manager Paul Warne:
"I thought we played really well, I thought that we were the better team and with respect to Burton I thought they came for a point. But there are so many chances you get in a game and if you don't take them you are snookered.
"I love my lads but with the greatest of respect to them, they aren't used to playing against and having to break down two banks of four.
"Did they underachieve in the scoreline? Yes. But did they underachieve in the performance? No, I don't think they did."
Burton manager Nigel Clough:
"We didn't play anywhere near as well as we did at Aston Villa on Boxing Day but we battled away for three points. It was tough coming here, we knew that they would have their tails up.
"We knew they would come out and cause us problems and they did. The only disappointment was that we conceded just before half-time and that gave them a chance, they put us under a lot of pressure in the second half.
"The timing in the year we didn't want to go into the new year without an away win and it was good to get that monkey off our back. There's nothing like getting the three points to reinforce the message."