Jeremy Sarmiento scored his second goal of the season for Burnley
Burnley moved into the Championship's automatic promotion spots with a comfortable victory over managerless Coventry City at Turf Moor.
Jeremy Sarmiento slotted home from eight yards after Connor Roberts' excellent cross two minutes into the second half before CJ Egan-Riley scored his first goal for the club late on to seal a deserved win.
The Clarets move above Sunderland and Leeds United, who play Luton on Wednesday, and have now won three consecutive Championship games for the first time this season.
Meanwhile, the Sky Blues remain 17th after suffering their first defeat under interim boss Rhys Carr since Mark Robins was sacked almost three weeks ago.
Scott Parker's side dominated possession but struggled to create any clear-cut chances in a lacklustre first half.
But Burnley came flying out the traps after the break and took the lead when Sarmiento finished off a move he started within 90 seconds of the restart.
The Ecuador international threaded a ball out wide for the lively Jaidon Anthony to slip in Roberts, who fizzed a perfectly weighted cutback from the byeline for Sarmiento to finish with the first shot on target of the game.
Coventry improved slightly after falling behind but only registered three shots and failed to test James Trafford with just one on target.
Burnley completed a routine victory 10 minutes from time after the visitors failed to deal with a corner and Egan-Riley took full advantage.
The 21-year-old centre-back turned on the ball and dinked a left-footed effort across goal that crept in at the far post in fortuitous fashion, prompting big celebrations in front of the home fans.
Coventry will feel they have done well under stand-in head coach Carr having played three sides in the top four since Robins' departure.
But Burnley proved to be too strong for the Sky Blues following consecutive 2-2 draws against Sunderland and Sheffield United.
Burnley head coach Scott Parker told BBC Radio Lancashire:
“Really good night. I thought the all-round performance tonight was very, very good.
“I thought first-half we really controlled the game. I thought we had some really good moments and came in at half-time and there were some little bits we needed to improve on.
“We score a goal at the right time in the second-half, no doubt. We come out, we get our goal.
“Clean sheet and a foundation of what we’re basing everything on and overall a really good performance.”
'Coventry squad is together' - Carr
Rhys Carr has been in temporary charge of Coventry for three games since Mark Robins was sacked
Coventry City interim head coach Rhys Carr told BBC Radio CWR:
"We would’ve liked to have offered a little bit more threat. I think credit to them, we came up against a good team tonight.
"We knew we were coming up against a good team, so in terms of suffering a little bit without the ball, we knew that would be the case.
"I thought the lads defended really well first-half to throw their bodies in the way and really be committed to stopping the ball going in our net.
"So at half-time, we spoke about some spaces we want to exploit a little bit better. But goals change games. That’s what happened tonight.
"The lads looked together. They’re committed, they threw themselves in the way and I’ve still got plenty of belief in the players.
"After going 1-0 down, I was still confident. We knew that even if we concede, we will create chances, so there were fine margins and we were on the wrong side of it tonight."
[On whether the lack of permanent head coach is unsettling for the squad] "I don’t know, you’d have to ask the players that. But how I feel with the squad we’ve got here, is they’re honest, they’re committed. We’ve seen that tonight.
"They’re certainly together and they want the best for Coventry City. So whoever is in the dugout, the players want to win. They’re sat in there gutted now and disappointed.
"It hurts and it’s quite good to see that it hurts because it means they care."
