The Walsall manager and his local press corps were the latest to join a fan club which expands by the week thanks to a brand of football so sexy it can't be long before it appears on Page Three.

Posh didn't just beat Walsall to complete a hat-trick of wins over teams above them in League One, they humiliated them. Or they would have done if their finishing wasn't straight from Emile Heskey's text-book.

Related:
Posh earn great praise after Walsall win.

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A single goal margin of victory was an affront to the pattern of play. A goal in 64 seconds from Shaun Batt set a tone which didn't deviate until the final act of the match 94 minutes later when Troy Deeney headed home a consolation from a corner – a real shame as it denied a defence which had been thrown together by circumstance rather than design the clean sheet they deserved.

"I'm very proud of the whole team," insisted Posh manager Darren Ferguson, who went on to deliver particular praise to centre-backs Charlie Lee and Kieran Charnock, or Dopey and Grumpy as they appeared alongside the giants of the Walsall attack.


Match facts:
Walsall 1
Deeney (90 mins).
Posh 2
Batt (2 mins), Whelpdale (42 mins).
Attendance: 4,792.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire).


Lee, an out-of-form midfielder, and Charnock, who was close to slipping behind the club physio in the centre-back pecking order, were immense, even if they were helped by the home side's Michael Ricketts, a one-time England international who was lazy enough in this game to look like he was auditioning for a part in the Royal Family.

With stability confirmed at the back, Posh played with great purpose and freedom further forward. The early goal also gave them great confidence.

Craig Mackail-Smith's brilliant spin past his marker on the left wing was followed by the perfect cross for Batt, whose strike at goal was accurate.

But it was thwarted by a fine save from Rene Gilmartin who must have been aghast that the ball rebounded kindly enough for the £5,000 recruit from Fisher to head his first Posh goal.

Posh did have to survive the occasional nervy moment in the next 15 minutes, but gradually Micah Hyde and Paul Coutts established enough midfield control to provide a rampant strike force with plenty of possession.

Batt started alongside Mackail-Smith with George Boyd moved to the left wing where his every move was tracked far better by the Sky TV cameras (he was the star attraction on a couple of shows yesterday) than his marker.

An extra touch by Boyd ruined a couple of promising situations, but Posh were stretching their opponents so regularly further opportunities always seemed inevitable.

Mackail-Smith's poke at goal was kept out by Gilmartin's leg early on and on the stroke of half-time Batt was also denied by the keeper after Boyd had played him through, but minutes earlier Chris Whelpdale had slotted his first goal of the campaign with his weaker left foot from the edge of the penalty area.