MK Dons kept up the pressure on league leaders Leicester with a routine victory over strugglers Hereford United.
Second-half goals from Peter Leven, Mark Wright and Jemal Johnson sealed the win to keep them a point off the top and take their winning streak to six in a row.
After a disappointing first-half showing, Roberto Di Matteo would have been delighted with his side after the break as they tore the hapless Bulls apart.
While Hereford had their misery further compounded with the suspected long-term injury to on-loan Wolves keeper Matt Murray.
The first half had a distinct lack of quality and urgency to it as neither team made an impact on the game.
Jason Puncheon had a long range thunderbolt that just went over early on and a Kris Taylor curling 30-yard free-kick one of the few chances for each side
The only clear-cut chance of the game fell to Sam Baldock just before the 20-minute mark.
A neat passing move down the left ended with Wright playing in the nippy striker, but from a slightly tight angle his left foot shot went past the far post.
The slick and fluid passing of Dons was just not happening and too often Dons resorted to hopeful balls up top to Aaron Wilbraham that were seized on by Karl Broadhurst and Dean Beckwith.
And although the Bulls barely had a chance, Baldock had a shot in the final minute of the half that summed up how they were playing, as he struck a 30-yard free kick so poorly it went out for a throw.
Dons were revitalised in the second though.
They played with more urgency and got their reward just before the hour mark as Broadhurst appeared to take down Miguel Llera in the box as they competed for a header.
Leven stepped up and hit a low penalty to his right that just went under sub keeper Craig Samson.
Once the duck was broken there was only ever going to be one winner and three minutes later they had another.
Wilbraham played in Baldock after a clever run down the right and he raced down the channel before firing in a near-post cross that Wright did brilliantly to get to and smash home.
Willy Gueret was forced into several smart saves from Ben Smith and Matt Done after that, but the Bulls never looked like scoring.
And after Leven and the ever-impressive Puncheon hit a few rifling efforts at Samson, Johnson then got the third with a couple of minutes to go.
He teased Taylor down the right before eventually hitting a superb strike in the bottom far corner.