Top scorer Mason Burstow added another two goals to his tally to extended Wanderers’ unbeaten home record and make it a hat-trick of League One wins at the Toughsheet Community Stadium, writes Pete Oliver.
Burstow looked a good bet for a treble of his own after scoring twice within the opening 21 minutes to take his total for the season to seven in a flying start for the Whites.
With struggling Peterborough rallying to pull a goal back before the break that turned out to be as good as it got for Steven Schumacher’s men.
But, crucially, thanks to Burstow’s burst Wanderers had once more done enough to make the most of home advantage to bounce back from just a second defeat of the season and climb back into the top 10.
Schumacher had made two changes to the side beaten at Northampton a week ago with Ethan Erhahon returning in midfield and Cyrus Christie making a first league start for the Whites since his deadline day signing.
And the experienced Christie made an immediate impact by delivering the perfect pass for Wanderers to go ahead inside five minutes.
Marcus Forss had already hit a post in a rapid start from Wanderers before Xavier Simons picked out Christie to swing the ball into the penalty area for Burstow to sweep the ball first time across Alex Bass with a first-class finish.
Forss then worked Bass with a lovely turn and shot before the confidence-fuelled Burstow added an excellent second with 20 minutes gone.
Again Simons sparked the move and allowed Amario Cozier-Duberry to thread a lovely pass through for Burstow to run into the box, jink inside and then fire left-footed past Bass to delight the home fans.
Peterborough’s one real chance of the opening half hour saw on-loan Chelsea forward Jimmy Jay-Morgan fail to get enough on an excellent cross from Jacob Mendy to test Stamford Bridge team-mate Teddy Sharman-Lowe.
But the division’s bottom side did halve the deficit before the break as Wanderers were guilty of relaxing their grip.
A slip from Erhahon gave Archie Collins an opening he couldn’t take thanks to a sharp save from Sharman-Lowe but when Posh threatened again, Harry Leonard pulled the ball back for former Whites’ loanee Peter Kioso – booked earlier for diving – to drill home and undo some of the Whites’ good work.
Schumacher’s men looked to make amends by raising the tempo at the start of the second half with Simons and Forss both having efforts at goal.
But it wasn’t quite clicking and with just over an hour gone Schumacher made a double change by sending on Sam Dalby and Ibrahim Cissoko, both of whom were close to getting on the end of a dangerous cross from Cozier-Duberry.
That re-ignited a spark and after Cissoko and Dalby were then involved in keeping the ball alive in the middle of the pitch, Cozier-Duberry launched another piercing run which ended with a shot well saved by Bass.
With the game now stretched and Peterborough far from out of it there were still opportunities for the Whites to make the game safe with Dalby teeing up Cissoko for an effort he fired straight as Bass before Simons almost capped a fine game with a goal with an effort which struck the bar from 20 yards out.
A third goal would have brought welcome breathing space rather than a tense final few minutes but Wanderers dug in with captain George Johnston leading by example to keep Posh at bay and with a fourth home win of the season secured the Whites are heading back in the right direction.
Wanderers: Sharman-Lowe; Christie (Toal 85), Forino, Johnston, Conway; Simons, Erhahon (Morley 77 ; Cozier-Duberry, Forss (Dalby 63), Gale (Cissoko 63); Burstow (Randall 85). Substitutes: Miller, Sheehan.
Booked: Sharman-Lowe
Peterborough: Bass; Kioso, Lees, Nevett (Dornelly 86), O’Connor; Garbett, Collins, Woods (Khela 83), Mendy (Odoh 72); Jay-Morgan, Leonard (Lisbie 72). Substitutes: Reyes, Johnston, Okagbue.
Booked: Kioso, Nevett, Lisbie
Referee: Sebastian Stockbridge
Attendance: 20,336 (618)
Everyone inside the Toughsheet Community Stadium observed a period of silence before kick-off to remember the victims and those affected by Thursday's synagogue attack in Manchester.