Hull City moved 14 points clear of the relegation zone after brushing aside Peterborough United with a confident and clinical display in the SkyBet Championship.
Tyler Smith opened the scoring with his first league goal of the season with a close range finish in the first half, before Keane Lewis-Potter hit a second half double with a pair of fine finishes.
All three goals came courtesy of poor Posh errors in crucial areas of the pitch, including when the outstanding Lewis-Potter took the ball from Joe Ward to find the far bottom corner with a swerving finish.
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Class Keane a step above the rest
The Tigers academy graduate was so comfortable for the entire 90 minutes at the Weston Homes Stadium.
Whenever he got on the ball, it felt like something was going to happen.
He was dynamic with quick feet that had the home defence on the ropes from the start and, when his side were countering, found himself in acres of space on the left-hand side.
Lewis-Potter terrified Harrison Burrows in the first half and forced the error for the opening goal before doing the same to Ward in the second.
He applied the pressure on the Peterborough midfielder’s poor touch and rifled home the effort that effectively killed the game off.
His second and Hull’s third came from him pouncing on a poor touch from Jorge Grant on the halfway line and driving towards goal.
The composure the 21-year-old showed to wait until Steven Benda was just close enough to be able to prod the ball through his legs was mature beyond his years.
The Tigers faithful adore him and rightly so, he is an exciting, exceptional talent on the ball that makes things happen and has been pivotal in keeping them in the division this season.
Off the ball, Lewis-Potter puts in a shift, too.
He seemed to not stop running and pressing from the front, and caused mistakes in a shaky Posh backline to create chances for his team.
On another day, it could have been six or seven and it wouldn’t have been too farfetched to say he would have had a hand in all of them.
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Peterborough are well and truly doomed
Awful. Shambles. Finished.
Any negative word would describe Peterborough United this season.
Grant McCann made his second managerial debut for the team he led into the Championship in 2011 but could not have witnessed a worse start.
He effectively only had one day to work with his new charges after the defeat at Fulham but refused to use that as the excuse for the defeat.
They simply weren’t good enough.
Posh didn’t look like scoring – Sam Szmodics having the first home shot on target in the final ten minutes of the game says all you need to know.
There was no ingenuity going forward, trying to get down the ball down one side and crossing it in with no one in the box.
They defended well to begin with, Frankie Kent made a good block on Smith four yards out minutes before the striker got his side in front.
That changed the game, the home players belief dropped and Hull could have ran riot if it wasn’t for some decent saves from Benda.
Relegation isn’t confirmed, not by a long shot, but this season is dragging on to a dreadful end and it is only a matter of time.
Peterborough need to regroup and fast, Manchester City are just around the corner in the FA Cup.
On the performance yesterday, and performances from recent weeks, Posh are not going to enjoy the experience on Tuesday night.
Starts to your managerial tenure do not come much harder than the Premier League Champions in your second game, do they?
In terms of next league games, Peterborough travel to Huddersfield Town on Friday evening, due to The Terriers own cup involvement.
Hull face West Bromwich Albion and another former manager in Steve Bruce on Saturday afternoon.