Plymouth Argyle maintained their lead at the top of the Nationwide Division Two with a solid victory which was eventually made easier for them when Rushden defender Marcus Bignot was sent off midway through the second half.
The Pilgrims could even afford the luxury of a first-half penalty miss, when Hasney Aljofree's spot-kick was saved by Diamonds goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown after Andy Burgess had fouled Mickey Evans.
However, goals from Graham Coughlan and Ian Stonebridge early in the second half put the Pilgrims on the road to victory before club captain Paul Wotton, on as a late substitute, blasted home an injury-time free-kick to rubber-stamp the win.
Argyle were 6-0 up at the interval of their previous home game against Chesterfield but this time had to wait until the opening minutes of the second period to open their account.
Their first attack forced a corner which was swung in by Lee Hodges to the far post, where Coughlan flicked a header past Ashdown.
Stonebridge then netted his first league goal since early September. Paul Connolly curled in a cross from midway inside the opposition half, Lowndes flicked on, and finished.
Bignot was then dismissed for a bad foul on Hodges and with him went any chance Rushden had of getting back into the match.
In fact, they did not have a shot on target until the 87th minute, when Paul Hall shot over, and Argyle's response to that shot across the bows was to add a third through Wotton's blistering free-kick.
The margin of victory saw Argyle, who stay two points ahead of Queens Park Rangers, become the first club in England to pass the 60-goal mark for the season, and their clean sheet means they have now gone nine hours without conceding a goal.