Peterborough United secured a memorable Vertu Trophy Final victory over Birmingham City to become the first ever back-to-back winners and solidify boss Darren Ferguson’s synonymous status with the competition.

Posh were rewarded for their high energy performance and a cutting edge in the final third in front of 71,722 at Wembley, with goals from Harley Mills and Hector Kyprianou in the first half enough to see off the Sky Bet League One champions.

Ferguson, in his fourth spell as Posh boss, has a remarkable record in the competition, having now won it a record three times as a manager – all with Peterborough – and even lifted the silverware as a player with Wrexham in 2005.

This success not only makes Posh the only team to have retained the Trophy but brings them level with Bristol City’s record-setting three wins in the Final.

For Blues, it was a sour end to a landmark week, in which they secured promotion back to the Sky Bet Championship on Tuesday before being confirmed as title winners on Saturday.

But the party never likely got started for Chris Davies’ side, as they were overrun for much of the game by a Posh team who were front-footed and aggressive from the off.

And they added quality where it counted, no more so than when Mills curled in a superb free-kick off the underside of the bar for only his second ever senior goal, with his first coming against Crystal Palace U21 in the same competition.

And while Blues saw plenty of the ball in their search for a leveller, they created little of note before being rattled by another Posh suckerpunch.

Mills was the architect this time, driving in a cross that found its way to Kyprianou who hit a sweet drive hight into the net just before half-time.

Little changed for Blues after the break, as Keshi Anderson blazed over on the angle and Stansfield drew a save from Jed Steer with a low drive.

And Stansfield thought he had pulled one back late on, putting away the rebound after Steer’s smart save from Kieran Dowell’s shot, but the former Fulham man was flagged offside.

Despite 11 minutes of added on time, Blues could only muster one more chance of note, Lukas Jutkiewicz pulling a sharp save from Steer, as Posh saw out the win to make it double joy at Wembley.

Peterborough claim Vertu Trophy as first back-to-back winners

Peterborough claim Vertu Trophy as first back-to-back winners