Delighted Derby boss Paul Warne hailed hat-trick hero Martyn Waghorn – but not just for his goals.
The veteran striker toasted the fifth treble of his career when inspiring the Rams to come from behind at Peterborough.
Jonson Clarke-Harris handed the hosts a brief advantage before Derby ran riot with four goals in 16 minutes.
Waghorn bagged the first of them before Eirin Cashin’s header completed the turnaround.
Waghorn then took centre-stage by getting a toe to a Nathaniel Mendez-Laing strike for a third goal before completing his treble on the stroke of half-time.
Posh manager Darren Ferguson saw red before Kwame Poku bagged a late consolation.
Warne said: “I don’t seem to ever have much joy against Fergie’s teams and I was really disappointed with the goal we conceded.
“But I fancy us to out-score most teams so it wasn’t a massive drama to fall behind.
“The reaction from the lads was really pleasing and everything that could go right for us for the rest of the first half, did.
“It’s usually a good day at the office when one of your strikers scores a hat-trick and I’m sure everyone will talk about Waggy’s goals, but it’s everything else I like about him.
“He thoroughly deserves his hat-trick, but I’ve said many times it’s not just what he does on the pitch alone.
“It’s also all the stuff off the pitch…how he is in the dressing room, how he drives training, how he picks the young lads up. He is a real force for us.”
Ferguson’s dismissal – for collecting two cautions just seconds apart – meant assistant boss Kieran Scarff was left to reflect on a second successive Posh defeat.
He said: “The game went exactly the way we hoped it would at first. We started strongly and were probably disappointed to only be one goal up.
“We provided Derby with four opportunities and they were ruthless. That was the big difference in the first half. We also had the chances to be (ruthless) ourselves, but we weren’t.
“We’ll look back at the defending, as we do for every goal we concede. I’m sure there are things we could have done better.
“In some respects you would say the scoreline is a harsh reflection, but Derby took their chances and we didn’t.”
On the dismissal of Ferguson, Scarff added: “There is a real confusion around football with the new rules, but the lack of consistency still remains.
“There is always going to be emotion in football, whether it be on the pitch, in the dugout or in the stands.
“Obviously it’s got to be appropriate and there was nothing inappropriate as far as I was concerned. Their dugout couldn’t believe it either.”