Peterborough United were excellent throughout against Newcastle United in the Carling Cup, but never ever looked like producing a performance anywhere close to that one at Bloomfield Road as they were outclassed by Blackpool in the Coca-Cola Championship.

Keith Southern recorded the first effort on target for the home side, but the low effort was comfortably claimed by goalkeeper Joe Lewis.

Moments later, the Seasiders were in front as a cross from the left by Stephen Crainey was headed past a flat-footed Lewis by Jason EUELL who had managed to get in between the two centre halves.

Craig Mackail-Smith immediately had the chance to level the scores after Aaron Mclean's shot deflected into his path, but the striker fired straight at Rachubka who made the save with his legs.

Posh were all over the place defensively and Charlie Adam found time and space in the area on seven minutes, but he flashed his shot wide of the near post.

The home side doubled their lead on 11 minutes as Hamuer BOUAZZA nutmegged Tom Williams and curled a superb shot past Joe Lewis and into the top corner of the net.

Posh were still living dangerously at the back and in possession and struggling to put together any moves of note in the attacking third.

Lee Frecklington finally tested goalkeeper Rachubka on 26 minutes and it was a smart stop by the former Manchester United shot-stopper, diving to his left.

Some good harrying from Mackail-Smith kept the ball in play just after the half hour for Coutts, but the Scottish midfielder saw his shot deflect wide of the target.

Rachubka then did extremely well to clear as Boyd went clean through on goal following an excellent pass from Frecklington.

Boyd saw a shot blocked by Rob Edwards on 36 minutes before goalkeeper Lewis dashed from his line to clear after a good looking ball from the influential Adam.

More hopeless defending from Posh allowed Brett Ormerod to race clear, but he fired wide of the target when well-placed as Darren Ferguson scratched his head in disbelief.

However, moments later, Posh should have reduced the arrears after Mackail-Smith flicked the ball into the path of Frecklington but his volley went over.

Deep in stoppage time, Mackail-Smith summed up the first half performance for Posh by shooting wide for a throw-in.

Half-time: Blackpool 2-0 Peterborough United

Manager Darren Ferguson had 15 minutes with his players at half-time to try and rectify the situation and made one substitution with Paul Coutts replaced by Chris Whelpdale.

Posh certainly had more purpose in the second period with Boyd getting into good wide areas, but despite a goal-mouth scramble, Mackail-Smith couldn't force the ball past Rachubka at the far post.

On 51 minutes, Posh came even closer to scoring as Frecklington headed the ball into the path of the onrushing Boyd, but his downward header was cleared off the line by Edwards.

Although the attacking looked better, the defending still left a lot to be desired and Adam wasted a good chance to make it 3-0 but his crisp volley went wide.

Zakuani, who was below par like so many others, was replaced by Krystian Pearce for the final 22 minutes at Bloomfield Road as Posh continued to struggle.

Shaun Batt was introduced from the bench and immediately played in Mackail-Smith in a wide area and as the move developed it fell to Mclean, but his left-foot shot went well wide.

A poor header back from Pearce allowed Burgess to nip in on 80 minutes, but Lewis made a good save with his legs to keep the score down to two.

Posh were poor throughout and boss Darren Ferguson can have no complaints about the result at Bloomfield Road.

Final Score: Blackpool 2-0 Peterborough United

Blackpool: Rachubka, Crainey, Southern, Eardley (sub Eastham 18min), Ormerod (sub Burgess 62min), Vaughan, Baptiste, Bouazza, Euell, Edwards, Adam (sub Bangura 80min). Unused subs: Gilks, Clarke, Martin, Emmanuel-Thomas,

Posh: Lewis, Martin, Williams, Morgan, Zakuani (sub Pearce 68min), Coutts (sub Whelpdale 46min), Frecklington (sub Batt 72min), Mclean, Boyd, Mackail-Smith, Diagouraga. Subs: Keates, McKeown, Rowe, Day.

Attendance: 7,728 (762 Posh fans)