Hull City 1 Peterborough United 3: Sinclair and Posh stun Tigers

The burly striker rose to prominence with a two-goal salvo for Macclesfield at the KC Stadium in August last year - a performance that prompted Peterborough to sign him - and the Humber air invigorated him again today as he ran riot against a side who had won their last six home games.

He plundered counter-attack goals in the 24th and 30th minutes, before wrapping the win up - after Jay Simpson had pulled one back - midway through the second half.

And afterwards, the 24-year-old was happy to have proved a point to manager Darren Ferguson, who has used him sparingly this season.

“I did well in the reserves, told the manager I was ready for my chance and I took it,” he said.

“I thought I had something to prove. It’s my first goal of the season and I knew I had to do well and show people what I could do.

“When the gaffer told me I would be starting I told my partner I was coming back to Hull and she said to me: ‘that’s where you made your name for Macclesfield’. I think I proved a point.”

Hull manager Steve Bruce will not forget Sinclair’s name in a hurry.

The former Sunderland boss saw his side concede a hat-trick to Leicester’s David Nugent a week ago, and now has two 3-1 defeats to mull over after what had been the club’s best start to a season in 28 years.

“It was one of them awful games, we were punished for individual errors. You can’t make the mistakes we did, individual mistakes on the first and second. We were littered with bad ones,” he said.

“We got back in it, we have them and then give them the third one where he runs through and scores. In the first half an hour, there was only one team in it but that’s football.

“We gave them a lead to 1-0 and Ben Amos had his least busiest time of all. It spoils a really good team performance from us.”

For his part Ferguson, who refused to be too downhearted when his side were on their seven-game losing run, typically would not indulge in too much excitement today.

He did praise Sinclair, though, believing his all-action approach had unsettled Hull.

“This gives us a platform. It was always going to be a big week for us,” he said.

“We knew it would be tough. They had won every game at home, but we know how to win a game. Hard work and team spirit. We showed that.

“But it’s one win. We knew we had to counter-attack and Emile gave us the perfect foil. He had a lot of time to think about his first two goals and his decision-making was excellent.

“He gave us an energy up front. I’m really pleased with him.”