What a weird game. Dodgy defending, consummate attacking, then later some consummate defending and dodgy attacking. It’s all a bit scattergun at the moment. But the main point of the news is that Hull City have remembered how to win again.

The three defeats in the Championship over the holiday period could have left the players bereft of hope and confidence, but not a bit of it. An officially endorsed, freshly mandated Nick Barmby proved this by restoring the usual players to usual roles after the handful of chops and changes for last week’s FA Cup tie. Essentially, our bright new gaffer was saying to these players that the three defeats didn’t matter, they were still the best in their positions.

It made sense. This team may have gone pointless and goalless over that period but only the last game against Derby saw a side having to deal with being genuinely second best. You can’t always get what you want, and you can’t always get what you deserve. Barmby knew this, and while much was made of his “selection headache” following the impressive second-string stuffing of Ipswich Town, ultimately it’s doubtful he even gave any of those newbies a second thought.

Only the keeper has changed since those three losses. We now have one who is fit and can keep goal. This is handy. As sure as eggs is eggs, City lined up thus: Mannone; Rosenior, Chester, Hobbs, Dawson; Stewart, McKenna, Koren, Evans; Mclean, Fryatt.

It’s impossible to pigeonhole Aaron Mclean’s position or role, as he is superhumanly playing all kinds of each – striker, winger, midfield lynchpin and sometimes, with a mixture of alarm and intrigue, right back. He’s a quite extraordinary player at the moment, representing the team’s heart pretty much in one body. If, when chances come his way, he could just put a few more away, he’d be pretty much complete. You can see why Brighton – and probably others, less publicly – want him; you can see also why City are set to give short shrift to anyone impertinent enough to make a bid.

It’s nice to begin with a positive comment about a player and the game, as if one were to follow the rules of chonology, we’d be initially expressing worry over the defence, and the team’s general concentration. Peterborough, limited but very tidy and quite likeable a side, should have been two up in the first 15 minutes, and later had what appeared a cast-iron penalty refused. During this period City were, in all honesty, dreadful.

Emile Sinclair was a handful with both power and pace, but frankly as long as he had working legs and eyes he had enough to outdo City’s centre backs twice over, firstly beating the offside trap with ease in chasing a long bouncing ball, and seeing his goalbound lob swatted away instinctively by Vito Mannone, whose awareness of the danger was sharp and smart. He was out quickly, probably yelling some Italian expletive at the Peterborough centre forward to try to put him off, and read very well what Sinclair eventually tried to do.

A minute or two later, Sinclair was through again, snaffling an underhit Andy Dawson pass from Jack Hobbs’ ankles and heading towards goal. Rounding Mannone, the net was all his but James Chester had hared across and, in something little short of a miracle, got a block in. He had absolutely no right to, it was brilliant defending but it wasn’t from the textbook, just from the lucky drawer. Think of Ashley Cole against Ecuador in 2006. Sinclair’s name, meanwhile, will have been taken in vain by his manager and the travelling Peterborough supporters, even though he didn’t really do a lot wrong.

Serious let-offs, both. City seemed to learn from them, and there followed a period of featureless football that produced no chances whatsoever. City were taking the momentum away from their opponents by being patient in possession. Mclean, especially, was terrific at this. So much of the game goes through him at the moment, popping up as he does as a support to the midfield one moment and then overlapping late, like a full back, the next. Such willingness to serve the team finally created a chance that would go on to win the game.

Mclean collected the ball on the right and made some room for himself to draw a man and, we all presumed, feed Liam Rosenior on the outside. The full back’s run was a meagre decoy though, as Mclean instead wrapped his foot around the ball and steered it inside to Robert Koren. He controlled on his thigh, let it bounce and then thumped a smasher of a shot beyond Joe Lewis and into the bottom corner. A very Koren-esque goal, but as much a Mclean-esque contribution to the stuff that City do well. Deadlock broken.

City, fortunate to be ahead, stepped it up. Dawson got to the byline after swapping passes with Cameron Stewart and though his chipped ball was too high for those gathered in the box, Rosenior followed up late on the opposite side and cracked a low first time shot into the side netting.

Peterborough could feel burned by being behind undeservedly; soon they would be furious when Daniel Kearns galloped through with just Mannone to beat, and the City keeper seemed to take his insteps as he tried to go round. It looked a penalty without question, it wasn’t given. Gasps and relieved chortles from the Tiger Nation as Peterborough’s fans – and players – went ballistic.

Little more occurred afterwards, though Paul McKenna tested the reflexes and gloves of Lewis with a stinging long range drive that Koren failed to follow up properly, perhaps knowing that he was by some distance offside. The half time whistle sounded with City unconvincing and winning and Peterborough impressive and losing.

The second half belonged more to City, as if Barmby’s priority over the half time isotonica was to re-commence the game with a tad more concentration than they’d managed 45 minutes ago. Though the foppish George Boyd slammed a well-worked free kick a long way wide, the visitors were generally kept at bay.

City, however, found the crucial task of increasing the lead rather tough going. Dawson and McKenna made an opening for Koren on the right, and his low cross was all set to be tapped home by Mclean until Ryan Bennett got limbs in the way, with the ricochet falling just behind Matt Fryatt, whose quiet afternoon ended soon afterwards when Barmby replaced him with Robbie Brady while also removing a hobbling Koren in favour of Joe Dudgeon. Fears over the latter’s midfield position were, for once, evaporated quickly as he settled rapidly into the role, going in for some spicy challenges and providing natural width for the flank, with one run and cross finding Mclean near the penalty spot, only for him to skew his shot wide.

Brady then hit a low cross to the far post that fooled everyone, with the late arriving Dudgeon only able to find the side netting from an unattainable angle. McKenna then chipped a lovely ball through for Corry Evans to beat the offside trap but finish second best to Lewis in his stretch for the ball, earning an unlucky booking for lateness in the process. Mclean tapped in the loose ball with the shrill of the whistle already in his ears.

Evans and Mclean then combined again around the edge of the box to give Stewart a shooting chance but he blasted it just wide. Evans made a run from deep before curling an ambitious effort on to the roof of the net. Then Brady had rare room in the centre and saw his shot smash the inside of the post and run pretty much along the line without crossing it. Fabulously unlucky, that one. And it gave Peterborough some fresh belief, as if they felt they were being let off a bit. They regained some possession but Barmby’s words about concentration – should they have actually been said, of course – had sunk in, and the back four didn’t get much wrong in slowing the opposition down.

Barmby withdrew Stewart and put extra legs in the middle with Tom Cairney, and during the three added minutes the only chance was City’s – Mclean angling a shot for the corner which Lewis had to fist away at a stretch – even though the visitors were dominating possession. The cheer at the final whistle was as much about relief as it was euphoria.

For a bit, we were back up to fifth. One or two other results went our way and the team seems to have felt nothing ill from the holiday season from hell. Peterborough are unglamorous but are certainly no mugs, and this was a good and welcome win. There’s a lot more to come from this Tigers team yet but for the moment we can be grateful for an end to the madness and a return to winning ways. Well played, City.