Nigel Clough hailed his Mansfield side’s fast start in their 3-0 League One win over Peterborough as their best half of football this season.
The Stags scored all three goals inside the first 31 minutes as Will Evans hit a brace after Baily Cargill’s early opener at London Road.
To add salt to the gaping wounds, George Nevett was shown red late on for the lacklustre hosts.
“It was outstanding from the first minute to the last,” said Clough, whose side lost five league games in a row from the start of November.
“The first 30 or 40 minutes of the game was probably the best of the season. It was absolutely spot on.
“With a team that are such a good footballing side, if you unsettle them physically, as well as footballing wise – which was our aim – we could ruffle them.
“It was three really good goals and we could have sneaked another one.
“I think the five games we lost, but we played so well and it could easily have happened in one of those games.
“That’s where you need to keep the spirit up during those five games or when you don’t win for seven or whatever it was.
“I knew it was around the corner and then all of a sudden it’s seven points out of nine and three clean sheets on the spin.
“There wasn’t any reason to make massive changes. Anyone who has an inkling of football would have known we could have got 13 points out of 15 in those five games.
“A couple were a bit unlucky and a couple self inflicted. We knew that we were playing well so we stuck with the same sort of personnel, same system and we’re reaping those rewards.”
Posh are currently in a rut of their own with a first home defeat to Mansfield since 1979 their fourth league loss in five.
Boss Darren Ferguson said: “It’s a performance that isn’t defendable in the first half.
“We stuck at it in the second half, but they were handy winners.
“I’ve got to keep trying different things with the personnel that I’ve got.
“I think it’s irrelevant who the personnel are when you have a performance like that in the first half.
“It doesn’t matter your system or your tactics, it’s good old fashioned being committed enough to stop the other team scoring goals. It could have been a lot more if I’m honest.
“You can complicate football, but it’s a simple game. At set pieces you pick up your man, that’s your job and we don’t do our job.
“It’s very hard to defend my players. As much as I don’t want to criticise them publicly.
“The one thing I’ll give them is we kept going. That’s the only thing I can say for them.”
