The day Newcastle United and Peterborough United really do compete on an equal footing is the day the mail arrives on time.

Newcastle shop for players at Prada, Posh are forced to raid Primark.

The number of fans demonstrating against an unpopular owner outside the sportsdirect@stjamespark stadium before the match was greater than the average London Road attendance.

Given the circumstances is it really realistic to expect Charlie Lee from Spurs reserves to nullify Argentina's World Cup winger? Or the Posh 'fab three', who remember were all playing non-league football less than three full seasons ago, to breeze past defenders familiar with the skills and artistry of La Liga?

The answer of course is an emphatic no, no matter how well prepared the underdogs are. Whatever game-plan was employed at Newcastle was ripped to shreds inside 20 minutes by a team who remain impressively detached from the furore surrounding the antics of a bumbling board of directors.

Make no mistake 3-1 flattered Posh who can only take credit for plugging away gamely to the end. Newcastle were faster, stronger and infinitely more skilled than opponents who were over-run by player-power and overawed by their sumptuous surroundings.

And in South American star Jonas Gutierrez they faced a winger who must have been close to winning the man-of-the-match award despite being on the field for just 20 minutes.

Reaction:
DARREN Ferguson is convinced his Peterborough United side will respond positively to slumping to the bottom of the Championship for the first time this season.

Gutierrez is how good George Boyd would be if he could run faster. Even their lack of hairstyle is similar, but while Boyd struggled to impose himself on his free role in support of a lone striker, Gutierrez was quite brilliant, dribbling past defenders at pace and generally causing havoc whenever and wherever he popped up in possession.

Match details:
NEWCASTLE 3
POSH 1
GOALS: Posh – Keates (79 mins).
Newcastle – Gutierrez (16 mins), Car-
roll (18 mins), Simpson (52 mins).
REFEREE: Andy D'Urso (Essex) 7
ATTENDANCE: 43,067
Posh – Bennett (foul).

Unsurprisingly the man nick-named Spiderman will become a super-hero at this standard of football. More surprisingly the 16th-minute run that started in his own half and finished with a successful 10-yard stab past Joe Lewis was his first goal for the club.

Andy Carroll then headed home a second from a corner two minutes later to leave Posh, who had barely left their own half at this point, staring at a thrashing.

Luckily, to the relief of the visitors, who must have been dizzy at the amount of twisting and turning they'd done in vain, Gutierrez limped off soon afterwards.

Newcastle remained in control, but without quite the same level of penetration even though Chris Guthrie promptly smacked a 20-yard shot against a post.

Posh, who started without Aaron Mclean, but with Craig Mackail-Smith, deployed Dean Keates alongside Toumani Diagouraga in an attempt to stiffen the protection of a back four which included full debutant Ryan Bennett. It didn't work because the danger started on the flanks where widemen Chris Whelpdale and Danny Rose struggled to support their full-backs.

Rose's selection in an international squad will mystify Posh fans and presumably his current manager who hauled him off at half-time along with Diagouraga, who has Dominic Iorfa levels of consistency.

Posh did improve but only after home right-back Danny Simpson had curled home a beauty from just inside the penalty area seven minutes after the re-start.

Posh could easily have buckled at that point, but, doubtless aided by the home side relaxing at a job well done, they instead started to play.

Whelpdale recorded his side's first shot on target in the 57th minute, Mclean forced Newcastle 'keeper Steve Harper into a far more difficult stop within 60 seconds and Harper then defied Mackail-Smith from inside the six yard box.

Keates, whose work ethic was a credit to his professionalism after a long spell out of the side, popped up to net from close range 11 minutes from time to become the first Posh player other than Boyd, Mclean and Mackail-Smith to score a Championship goal since August Bank Holiday Monday.

That's one problem that needs addressing, but Posh may have at least solved their central defensive dilemma.

Bennett delivered an incredibly composed and confident display for one so young. He moved like Rio Ferdinand used to, looked stylish in possession and competed well in the air against two physically formidable strikers.

It was all conducted in a rather different atmosphere to a wet Tuesday night in Cleethorpes as the Newcastle fans veered from passionate support for their team to vile abuse of their chairman.

"Get out of our club you overweight Cockney," is a censored report of the most popular chant, one that briefly had a Posh character shifting uneasily in his seat.

Player ratings:

Peterborough
JOE LEWIS 6
Not much chance with the goals, a couple of decent saves
CHARLIE LEE 5
Must have been pleased when Gutierrez went off, roasted alive at times
TOMMY ROWE 6
Plugged away gamely and tried to join in the attacks
CRAIG MORGAN 6
Solid display throughout against high quality opponents
RYAN BENNETT 8
Outstanding for a teenage debutant in the circumstances, already looks an excellent signing
T. DIAGOURAGA 4
Lacks the basic skills for the Championship, poor ball control
DEAN KEATES 7
Good to see him back, worked his socks off and popped up with vital goal
CHRIS WHELPDALE 6
Up against a pacy, highly skilled left- back, but some promising moments after the break
DANNY ROSE 4
A lightweight who doesn't look particularly focussed
GEORGE BOYD 5
Disappointingly ineffective in a free attacking role
C. MACKAIL-SMITH 5
Not at his sharpest, missed a sitter second half
Substitutes:
Paul Coutts (for Diagouraga, 46 mins): Played with decent energy 6
Aaron Mclean (for Rose, 46 mins): Tried hard
forced a good save from 'keeper 5
Shaun Batt (for Whelpdale, 76 mins).
Russell Martin (unused).
Gaby Zakuani (unused).
Lee Frecklington (unused).
Ben Amos (unused)

Newcastle
Steve Harper 7
Danny Simpson 7
Jose Enrique 8
Steven Taylor 7
Danny Guthrie 8
Alan Smith 7
Kevin Nolan 8
Jonas Gutierrez 7
Marlon Harewood 6
Andrew Carroll 7
Subs
Ryan Taylor (for Gutierrez 22 mins): 6
Peter Lovenkrands (for Carroll 78
mins).
Nile Ranger (for Harewood 78 mins).
Tim Krul (unused).
Geremi (unused.
Nicky Butt (unused).
Tamas Kadar (unused).