For this was surely the day that their club said a fond farewell to League Two football for the foreseeable future.

By delivering a display of such irresistible attacking power Posh proved themselves not only too good for football in the basement, but likely to make a determined challenge for League One honours and beyond in the next few years as well.

There is a vibrancy and a youthfulness about this side, and a feel-good factor around the club and indeed the city, that suggests when next chairman Darragh MacAnthony talks about Posh and the Premier League, people won't stare incredulously at him like he's put Barry Fry forward for the Liverpool manager's job.

It's true that Lincoln, for all their talk of playing tough, produced a defensive display which would have disgraced their under nine team.

They had left-footers at right-back, right-footers at left-back and a couple of training cones would have made a more effective centre-back pairing, but you can only beat what's put in front of you and Posh would have demolished much stronger outfits than these limp imps.

"It was a joy to watch," enthused happy manager Darren Ferguson who was surely speaking for the majority of another bumper London Road crowd, this time in excess of 8,000.

Posh played with pace, power and panache and only a lack of precision finishing stopped this from becoming a perfect performance.

Aaron Mclean will rightly grab most of the headlines for claiming his 30th and 31st goals of an astonishing personal campaign, but he was happy to share the limelight with others. Scott Rendell proved that he can finish as well as create by grabbing the other two goals, while George Boyd turned his marker inside out so often, he would have been forgiven for going off with twisted blood.

Adam Newton can rarely have played better in a Posh shirt at right back and although midfielders Charlie Lee and Dean Keates are built like terriers, they are as destructive as rotweilers.

The lack of early goals has held Posh back at home in recent weeks and when Mclean failed to finish Boyd's immaculate through ball in the third minute there was a resigned sigh from the supporters.

They needn't have worried because the tempo and the quality of the passing and movement never relented making chances and therefore goals inevitable.

Mclean volleyed the opener on 17 minutes after over-worked Lincoln keeper Alan Marriott had twice thwarted Boyd and he could have had a hat-trick before the break as he sent a free header soaring over the bar from a Keates' free-kick just prior to the interval.

Chris Whelpdale and Newton regularly tore great holes in Lincoln's left flank and both missed half-chances to make it a comfortable interval, but any lingering nerves soon disappeared once Lee and Rendell created a simple second for Mclean and Whelpdale's throw had enabled Rendell to open his club account with a neat near post finish.

Mclean and Rendell look to be a natural striking partnership and they combined neatly for a fourth and match-killing goal on 67 minutes, scored by the latter through Marriott's legs.

Continues on next page, plus match and player stats.