Bristol City boss Derek McInnes' joy at the 2-1 victory over Peterborough was tempered by a double injury shocker.
Million pound hitman Sam Baldock struck twice in the space of six second-half minutes - City's first goals on the road this season - to crank up the despair for pointless Posh.
Baldock made no mistake when being handed two simple chances to settle the contest before Lee Tomlin earned and converted a stoppage-time penalty for the rock-bottom hosts.
But victory came a big price for City as they saw midfielder Cole Skuse and defender Greg Cunningham stretchered off in leg braces.
Skuse was hurt when receiving stud wounds on the stroke of half-time in a clash with Posh wideman Nathaniel Mendez-Laing while Cunningham was on the receiving end of a shocking second-half tackle from home striker Tyrone Barnett.
He was left with severe ligament damage but Chris Sarginson deemed the challenge only to be worthy of a yellow card.
The referee had also chosen to only book Mark Little for a two-footed challenge on Liam Fontaine a few minutes earlier.
City boss McInnes said: "I feel the referee let us down. He abdicated responsibility on a couple of occasions.
"The two-footed lunge should have been dealt with properly. The guy got the ball but the aggression, speed and danger element of the challenge meant it was a red card for me all day long.
"Had he dealt with that one then Greg wouldn't have got the straight leg challenge, which was the worst of the lot.
"For neither of them to merit a red was not only disappointing but baffling.
"I'm just pleased with the result. We produced a really professional performance and saw two clinical finishes from Sam."
Goalmouth incidents were few and far between in lifeless opening period but City were gifted the advantage 11 minutes into the second period when Baldock seized upon an awful backpass from Little, rounded goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik and rolled the ball into the empty net.
Baldock quickly doubled the visitors' tally when he side-footed home a cutback from substitute Albert Adomah.
Posh were handed a lifeline when Tomlin struck from the spot in the second of eight minutes of stoppage time, but they could not snatch a first point of the campaign.
Posh boss Darren Ferguson insisted he is going nowhere despite his team slumping to a sixth successive league defeat.
Ferguson's first spell as manager at London Road ended with the club bottom of the Championship in November 2009, but he is adamant that will not happen again.
He said: "There is no getting away from the fact we have suffered a shocking season.
"The commitment is certainly there but I'm not seeing that real conviction to go and win a game.
"One or two players need taking out of the firing line as they look short on confidence.
"I've got a tough job to pick the players up but we will always keep believing in what we are trying to achieve.
"We are only six points from safety and we have 40 games in which to make those up.
"There will be no repeat of what happened last time we were in this situation.
"Myself and the chairman have a great respect for each other. No-one is going anywhere."
Ferguson slammed second-half challenges from Little and Barnett which McInnes claimed should have led to dismissals.
The Posh boss added: "There were a couple of tackles that I can't condone. I don't tell my players to go out and do things like that."
