Burnley 1-0 Coventry City: Louis Beyer scores late as Clarets maintain Championship lead
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Jordan Beyer's late goal ensured a seventh consecutive Championship victory for Burnley
Jordan Beyer's late header saw below-par Burnley edge out Coventry City to maintain their five-point lead at the top of the Championship.
The Clarets dominated possession throughout but struggled to break down a resolute Sky Blues side who looked set to earn a deserved point and deny the hosts an 11th win in 12 league games.
Coventry defended in numbers in the teeming rain at Turf Moor and still managed to create the better chances before the break, with Jamie Allen going close on three occasions.
Burnley improved slightly after the interval but rarely looked like finding a breakthrough until Beyer was on hand to head home a Johann Berg Gudmundsson corner corner and secure a seventh consecutive win for Vincent Kompany's side.
Victory means the Clarets strengthen their grip on an automatic promotion place, opening up a 16-point advantage over third-placed Watford, who moved ahead of Blackburn following Rovers' 4-0 reverse at Rotherham.
Defeat was tough on the visitors who more than matched the leaders for the majority of the game.
Although Burnley saw much more of the ball Coventry were the more threatening before the break, with Allen at the centre of their best moments.
The midfielder saw an early goal-bound effort blocked, then grazed the outside of the post with a second chance soon after.
Burnley remained patient, controlling the play and probing for an opening but neither side could muster an attempt on target in the first half - although Allen did go close in the latter stages when he headed wide from a fine Jake Bidwell cross.
Home supporters called for more urgency from the leaders and were rewarded with an improved second half, but Coventry had the first opportunity when the excellent Viktor Gyokeres rounded keeper Aro Muric only for Josh Brownhill to race back and clear the danger.
Kasey Palmer also had a shot blocked for the visitors, however, it was the Clarets who provided the more regular threat. Manuel Benson seemed to have wasted their best chance when he shot over the bar from Ian Maatsen's driven cross, before Nathan Tella's 64th-minute shot finally saw a home effort on target.
With a draw looming, German defender Beyer's downward header - the 22-year-old's first goal in professional football - cruelly broke Coventry's resistance and they were unable to force a late leveller.
Burnley boss Vincent Kompany told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"A very hard-fought win. We are happy because, on the basis of the first half, we could have been a goal down and we didn't deserve much out of the game.
"But the second half was really good, to the standards we are used to. If you give 45 minutes away you might be left with too much to recover so I was kind of glad with the draw at that point. But in the second half we felt we had momentum again and could push for the win.
"The second half was who we are. The big lesson is you can be really bad for 45 minutes, but if you believe and stay calm then the next 45 minutes is the most important and that is when you can affect something - and we were outstanding."
Coventry boss Mark Robins told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire:
"We should be talking about how good that point was, or that three points were. Instead we are talking about how we didn't do our jobs properly.
"Leading up to the goal there was a set-play and there was a melee and we lost focus and that gave them a chance to move us around and manhandle us out of the way to create some space, and then we let people run off us. There's no excuse; we have to defend that properly.
"We were magnificent in every other department, absolutely incredible, against one of the top sides. We were able to not just cope with it, but grow into it and create the better chances. Some of the football we played was really good. We needed to be more ruthless and take one of those chances.
"They've got strength in depth which we haven't got at the moment. I need to help the group by trying to get some people in, and we need to get people back off the treatment table as quickly as we can so we can make changes that affect things in a positive way.
"There's a lot to take heart from and a lot to be proud of."