He'd make a fortune, starting possibly from members of his own family.

On many occasions during a season which is fast threatening to become the best in the club's history, Posh have followed 45 minutes of dross with 45 minutes of dazzling brilliance. It's like watching Bradford turn into Brazil.

And it happened again at Dagenham and Redbridge. A first-half of misplaced passes and under-hit crosses was soon forgotten as three quality goals sealed a seventh League Two win in succession and a top of the table spot which had been surrendered less than 24 hours earlier thanks to MK Dons' latest boring victory.

The club's fab three of George Boyd, Aaron Mclean and Craig Mackail-Smith claimed the goals and the headlines, but Ferguson's subtle change of tactics (and quite possibly a rollocking) was equally deserving.

Posh simply couldn't cope with the combination of a surface which would have shamed Bretton Park and a wind which swirled menacingly overhead (and completely bamboozled Joe Lewis at every corner) in the first period, but they concentrated on getting behind the home defence as quickly as possible after the break and the transformation was stark.

Boyd's high-class side-foot finish from 20 yards after a long-range one-two with Mclean put Posh ahead in the 53rd minute and Mclean also created a tap-in for Craig Mackail-Smith 20 minutes later which sealed the points despite the award of a mystery home penalty eight minutes from time.

"There was no foul and if there was the guy was out of the area," insisted Ferguson who may have been right about one part of his statement as Chris Westwood did have a sly tug at substitute Ryan Hill's shirt.

David Rainford finished expertly from the spot, but within a couple of minutes Mclean had pounced on a headed through ball from substitute Charlie Lee to fire home his 28th goal of a dream season. Hill's 94th minute goal proved a mere consolation for a Dagenham side that had won their previous five League Two matches.

Posh though are a footballing juggernaut at present crushing any opposition that gets in their path. Ferguson reckoned his side might have scored seven on another day, and presumably against a different keeper as Dagenham's Tony Roberts defied his 39 years to keep the score down.

Roberts produced a brilliant block to deny Mackail-Smith midway through the first-half and after the interval he kept out a goal bound drive from Dean Keates and got enough on another Mackail-Smith shot to enable Scott Griffiths to execute an outstanding goal-line clearance.

Boyd was also frustrated in the final moments by Roberts' legs, but by the then the points were in the bag and another travelling crowd of more than 1,000 were celebrating a ninth win in 10 matches.

It's hard to see Posh imploding in the run-in as, despite a poor second goal from a defensive point of view, they have cured the lapses at the back which blighted the first half of the season.

Westwood is a supreme organiser and although Lewis had a dodgy day in the wind, he makes saves that Mark Tyler could not, purely on account of his extra inches.

Dagenham did make life as difficult as you'd expect from an in-form side boasting three ex-Posh players and an ex-Posh manager, but they were let down by the quality of their delivery from numerous set-pieces awarded by a fussy referee.

There was no such problem for the old Dagenham boy in the Posh side as Mackail-Smith, aided and abetted by the effervescent Mclean (after he'd sleepwalked through the first-half), terrorised three much slower defenders.

Ferguson admitted afterwards that he had contemplated dropping Mackail-Smith following his recent barren run in front of goal.

Not doing so proved to be another inspired decision – substitute strikers at London Road look certain to remain the most under-employed sportsmen in the world alongside reserve wicket-keepers and Avram Grant's charisma coach.

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