Peterborough United 3-0 Birmingham City: Posh return to form with comfortable win
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Jonson Clarke-Harris scored from the spot for the second successive game for Peterborough
Peterborough United ended a run of four straight defeats with a resounding win over Birmingham City.
Harlee Dean's first-minute own-goal gave Posh the perfect start and they never surrendered the momentum.
Jonson Clarke-Harris increased their lead before half-time from the penalty spot after Jorge Grant was fouled.
Grant added a third after the break as Posh closed out the win against Blues who had Gary Gardner sent off.
The win was Peterborough's first since 14 August and first over Birmingham since 1993, while Lee Bowyer's disappointing Blues side slipped to a second defeat in four days.
Posh's poor run had reminded them how tough the step up from League One is, but Darren Ferguson's side were given the ideal start when Birmingham defender Dean got the final touch past his own goalkeeper Matija Sarkic from Siriki Dembele's wicked cross inside 60 seconds.
Troy Deeney headed over Blues' best chance of the half from Kristian Pedersen's cross as the visitors struggled to carry much of a sustained threat.
Their task was made harder when Dembele's sweetly-weighted pass slid in Grant who was brought down by a recovering Ryan Woods. Clarke-Harris then sent Sarkic the wrong way from the spot.
Grant made the points safe five minutes into the second half, coolly finding the bottom corner from the edge of the area after Dembele had jinked past two Birmingham players.
Blues' afternoon then went from bad to worse when Gardner was shown a straight red card for challenge on Posh captain Nathan Thompson as Ferguson marked a record 492nd match in charge - passing Barry Fry's previous mark - with a precious win.
Despite the result, Peterborough remain in the bottom three - but now only on goal difference - with Birmingham 11th, two points outside the top six.
Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson:
"It was definitely our best performance of this season - and you could argue our best for quite some time too. It was full of conviction and one I really enjoyed watching.
"We're finding it tough on the road but at home we've been good and should arguably have at least three more points already.
"We were excellent in the first half and we told the lads the third goal would be crucial so getting that with such a wonderful finish from Jorge was huge.
On his record number of games:
"It's not an easy thing to do to manage that many games and surpass a record that belonged to someone like Barry, who is a legend in the game.
"It's a proud moment as this is the club that has given me the most success throughout my career of 34 years.
"I've been here three times and the club means everything to me. It has brought me, my wife and my family so much joy."
Birmingham City manager Lee Bowyer told BBC WM 95.6:
"It was not acceptable. We can't come away from our strengths and today we did.
"I just think the Wednesday-Saturday thing is very hard. They had an extra day's rest and it showed - they were first to everything.
"We've got to recharge our batteries, we've got a full week now so then we can try to put things right.
"I can understand why they showed him [Gary Gardner] a red card but there was no malice in it just an honest lad over-running the ball and trying to win it back."