Rotherham's inevitable relegation from the Championship was confirmed on Friday night after they were beaten 1-0 by Plymouth.
The Millers would have had to win all of their six remaining games to have even moved level on points with 21st-placed Argyle by the end of the season - and that is before factoring in other results and their vastly inferior goal difference to any of the teams around them.
Their fate was sealed by Bali Mumba's classy first-half strike, which ensured a return to League One after two seasons back in the second tier.
Rotherham remain bottom of the table with five games to play, 16 points behind Sheffield Wednesday in 23rd and an unassailable 19 from safety.
Plymouth, meanwhile, move up to 19th, four points clear of the relegation zone.
It goes without saying that it was a big night at the New York. Only a win would keep Rotherham's hopes of a survival miracle intact, while victory for Plymouth - who had sacked head coach Ian Foster on Easter Monday - would give their own hopes of retaining their place in the division new life.
The visitors quickly began to show why it was they who had a genuine chance of staying up; Rotherham - who were restricted to long shots - survived a chaotic scramble in the box, before Hakeem Odoffin threw himself in the way of a low effort from Callum Wright, who headed a cross just wide of the post soon after.
Just after the half-hour, Plymouth edged into a valuable lead. Morgan Whittaker's floated cross flew over the mistimed jump of Sebastian Revan to Mumba, who took a series of neat touches and fired past Viktor Johansson at his near post.
Plymouth tried to get into the groove after the break. Johansson got fingertips on a ferocious drive from Whittaker, before Callum Wright, Jordan Houghton and Cameron Humphreys hit shots straight at him.
At the other end, Rotherham came closest to levelling when Revan outmuscled Mumba on the right, cut inside and forced Michael Cooper to make his only real save of note throughout the entirety of the match.
Argyle should, arguably, have put the game completely to bed late on. Johansson saved from Dan Scarr, before the post denied Ben Waine a split-second later, and the goalkeeper later sent another shot from Waine around the post. But with no real threat from the hosts, before long, three vital points were in the bag.