Callum Roberts scored a first-half winner as Scunthorpe secured a 1-0 victory over Brackley, whose relegation from the National League was confirmed following a 14-match winless run.
The Iron took the lead after 13 minutes through a whipped Roberts free-kick that came off the far post and nestled into the visitors' net.
Danny Whitehall came close to making it two as the striker was through on goal but his effort smashed off the near post.
The saints pushed for an equaliser as Ben Wodskou played a great ball across the box, however no Brackley player was there to tap it home and with just two games remaining, they sit seven points from safety.
Match report supplied by PA Media.
Brackley unable to recover from Cowan exit
Relegation from step one of the non-league pyramid will come as a bitter blow for Brackley Town, having worked so hard for so many years to reach that level.
The Saints reached the step two play-offs in 2018, 2019, 2020 and again in 2022, 2023 and 2024 but were unable to finish the job on any of those occasions.
They finally won promotion from National League North on the final day of last season, going up as champions following a 5-0 win over Farsley Celtic as Kidderminster Harriers, who began the day top of the table, lost to Southport.
Starting life at the new level brightly, Brackley won two of their opening three games under boss Gavin Cowan and were beaten only once in the opening month of the National League campaign.
It was not until the second half of November that results took a serious downturn, with five successive losses, but the real body blow to their chances of survival came in January when head coach Cowan left to take charge of League Two club Shrewsbury Town.
Club captain Gareth Dean was named interim boss and two draws plus a win at Gateshead followed before the appointment of current manager Andy Whing.
He began with a 3-0 home defeat by Southend United and has been unable to conjure an upturn since then with a dismal run of only three points from 14 games – and no wins - since he took over, dropping them into the relegation places.
