Relegation looming after humiliation and more injuries ... on-the-whistle report: Peterborough United 5 Rotherham United 0
THE game was over long, long before the final whistle.
Rotherham United, in a contest really need to win to boost their fast-fading hopes of for League One survival, found themselves two goals behind at the break.
There would be no way back. They were breached three more times in the second half and tonight's comprehensive defeat at mid-table Peterborough United left them six points shy of safety with only nine matches left to play.
Injuries have blighted the Millers' season and they were hit hard again, being forced to field one of their weakest matchday 18s of the League One campaign.
The timid performance was one of a squad not only lacking in numbers but also lacking in leadership, character and belief.
It was a display that reeked of the drop.
There were few sights of goal in the opening exchanges at the Weston Homes Stadium. Duncan Watmore had a shot blocked and loanee Lino Sousa, making his first Millers start, had an effort deflected for a corner while, at the other end, goalkeeper Ted Cann had nothing of note to do.
Rotherham had sold less than 300 tickets for the contest and there also plenty of empty seats in the home sections of the ground on a calm spring evening in Cambridgeshire.
The Millers fell behind to Peterborough's first chance as Joe Rafferty couldn't quite stretch enough to cut out Harley Mills' long pass and Kyrell Lisbie took advantage by running in to slide the ball beyond Cann.
A deflection stook the sting out of a Brandon Cover shot, giving Posh keeper Alex Bass an easy save, before the visitors' well-documented injury woes worsened, with Joe Powell - only just back from a hamstring complaint - going off to be replaced by Josh Benson.
Rotherham's plight grew worse five minutes before the break when Archie Collins' dead-ball delivery was met by Jimmy-Jay Morgan who rose unchallenged to glance a header over Cann and into the net.
It rubbed salt into the visitors' wounds as the free-kick, given when Lisbie tumbled under no real challenge, shouldn't have been awarded.
The Millers were making it too easy for their opponents and Morgan tried his luck from distance, forcing a stop from Cann.
Half-time brought boos from away supporters, but Matt Hamshaw's bench was a weak one and he had no game-changing options he could turn to.
Rotherham had been seriously weakened by yet another raft of treatment-room issues in the build-up to this evening's match, with Harry Gray, Reece James and Emmanuel Adegboyega adding their names to a mounting casualty count.
Sousa and Watmore came into a team showing two changes to the one that drew 2-2 with Bolton Wanderers at the weekend.
The substitutes included four teenagers among them 17-year-old Harrison Duncan whose last first-team involvement had come in a FA Cup tie in early November.
Captaining a Peterborough side also depleted by absentees was Millers old boy Peter Kioso.
A few minutes into the second half came a moment that summed up Rotherham's night. They broke quickly and Ar'Jany Martha had time and room to play in either Sam Nombe or Watmore but dithered and did nothing other than tamely direct the ball into keeper Bass's hands.
Cann saved routinely from Kioso and then very well from Morgan to keep the score down.
Powell's departure had already added to Rotherham's injury nightmare and it became even worse when Sousa walked gingerly out of proceedings close to the hour mark.
In adversity, the Millers roused themselves and Nombe brought out the best in Bass before Josh Benson curled an effort off target.
It didn't last and when Lenny Agbaire clearly felled Lisbie in the area David Kamara converted a 69th-minute Peterborough penalty with the help of a post.
After Zak Jules had seen a low shot saved, spot-kick number two quickly followed as Jamal Baptiste brought down Cian Hayes and Kamara helped himself to another goal with an emphatic finish.
Collins made it 5-0 as the clock began to tick down.
The boos rang out at the final whistle – the soundtrack to the night, the soundtrack to too much of the season.
Peterborough (4-2-3-1): Alex Bass; James Dornell, Peter Kioso, David Okagbue (Lucca Mendonca 77), Harley Mills (Jacob Mendy 65); Archie Collins, Brandon Khela; Cian Hayes (Declan Frith 77), Jimmy-Jay Morgan (Patryk Skykut 65), Kyrell Lisbie; Pemi Aderoju (David Kamara 65). Subs not used: Bastian Smith, George Nevett.
Rotherham (3-5-2): Ted Cann; Lenny Agbaire, Zak Jules, Jamal Baptiste; Joe Rafferty, Brandon Cover (Jack Holmes 58), Joe Powell (Josh Benson 33), Ar'Jany Martha, Lino Sousa (Gabriele Biancheri 58); Sam Nombe, Duncan Watmore (James Clarke 74). Subs not used: Cameron Dawson, Harrison Duncan, Dean Gardner.
Goals: Lisbie 17, Morgan 40, Kamara pens 69, 76, Collins 81 (Peterborough)
Referee: Matthew Russell