Bubbling Middlesbrough eased to a 3-0 win over Scunthorpe as Gordon Strachan collected his first win at the Riverside at the fifth attempt.
Boro took full advantage as the visitors went down to 10 men when Cliff Byrne was sent off after just nine minutes for felling Jeremie Aliadiere and Adam Johnson scored the resulting penalty.
Rampant Boro had had 14 shots and hit the woodwork four times in a lively first half and sealed victory with goals either side of the interval and comfortably held on - although they suffered a late blow as Leroy Lita was also sent off after apparently lashing out in a tussle with Andrew Wright.
Strachan said he had not seen the incident occur two minutes from time but soon watched it back on tape.
"Leroy said he had shrugged him away and I presume that makes it violent conduct," he said. "But I have looked at the incident again on the tape and I can't see anything."
Strachan insisted that his side had been well on top before the ninth minute penalty which swung the game.
"Yes, we got a we break there," he admitted. "But we worked hard to get that break. Jeremie worked hard to get in the position that forced their man to make the decision.
"I was delighted with the start and to get the goals. We have started well a few times in recent games and not got them.
"We played at tempo and created a few good chances even before they went down to 10 men. And after that we created quite a few more.
"I was pleased to get the goal and even more pleased when we made it 2-0 because we had worked hard to get into that position. I was delighted when it got to 3-0 because we have another tough game on Monday and I thought we could leave it at that."
Scunthorpe manager Nigel Adkins refused to blame the early penalty for the defeat.
"Things go against you and you have to dealt with it," he said.
"When you lose a man early on it is disappointing but we are not looking for any excuses. We were up against it after nine minutes but that's life. You have to adapt and deal with it.
"Despite that we worked hard and there were some good displays. Grant McCann and Garry Thompson did well and caused them some problems in the second half but they are a good side and it was always going to be difficult here even with 11 men.
"We are a footballing side and we try to be adventurous and that's been our undoing at times. But we have to try and learn. No-one goes out to make mistakes. We have to analyse it and improve."
Boro started brightly but the game turned after nine minutes when Gary O'Neil played a long ball into the box and Scunthorpe captain Rob Jones misjudged header glanced into the box.
Aliadiere chased it and as he shaped to shoot he was bundled over from behind by Byrne.
The ref quickly pointed to the spot and sent off the visiting defender before Johnson stepped up to rifle home his penalty
In a sizzling spell Isaiah Osbourne, Johnson and full-back Tony McMahon all clipped the woodwork before Boro made it two on the stroke of half-time.
Justin Hoyte carried the ball forward and tried to pick out Lita in the box but defender McCann stretched out a foot to block but could only poke it into the path of Rhys Williams who drilled a low shot inside the foot of the near post.
And it was three within a minute of the restart as Lita dummied a ball into the box from Williams for Aliadiere to rifle home and angled drive.
