Mowbray guided West Brom to two FA Cup victories and one in the Carling Cup at Posh and Ferguson's expense, and this time his Middlesbrough side claimed a place in the Carling Cup third round.

They never looked back after a fourth-minute breakthrough by Barry Robson, with Seb Hines adding the second.

"All the damage was done in the first half when we managed to give Peterborough a lot of trouble while keeping things tight defensively," said Mowbray.

"The whole team display gave us a lot of credit against a side that certainly know the way to goal and caused us problems in the second half, but then Danny Coyne came into his own with a series of tremendous saves."

Mowbray also praised the contribution of Robson, adding: "Barry was carrying a knock and it was touch and go whether he started. But he did all that could have been asked of him before being taken off as a precaution at half-time.

"Cup competitions are fine but players do expend a lot of energy and we always have to be thinking of Saturday."

Although unchanged, npower Championship top scorers Posh were a shadow of the side that put seven past Ipswich at the weekend and could have no complaints about their two-goal interval deficit.

England Under-21 defender Joe Bennett did the spadework in Middlesbrough's flying start, surging from midfield and feeding Robson to fire beneath the body of Paul Jones from 12 yards.

Hines made it two on 28 minutes, meeting Tony McMahon's inswinging corner from the left with a far-post header, while both before and after there were chances for Marvin Emnes with Jones also saving well to deny McMahon and Malaury Martin.

Posh created little from midfield and only Lee Tomlin seriously troubled Boro's Danny Coyne with a 25th-minute shot. There was more purpose after the break and Coyne denied George Boyd and Lee Frecklington, twice, to send Posh slumping to their first home defeat for 20 matches, a run stretching back to November last year.

Boss Ferguson said: "We knew it would be a difficult game and Middlesbrough impressed all over the pitch.

"Obviously it was the first half that did the damage and while knowing the way they would play, we didn't exploit areas where we might have been able to hurt them.

"The first goal came with both full-backs out of position and the second was from a set-piece. We have to do things better because teams know what we are about and, like Middlesbrough, come prepared.

"But in Tony Mowbray they have an excellent manager who has some good players and I can see them being there or thereabouts in the Championship at the end of the season."