Slender scoreline against Coventry City was the "ideal script" for Burnley boss Vincent Kompany

In the context of the last week — with both Cardiff City and Stoke City netting late equalisers — it was the perfect tonic for the Manchester City legend, who was thrilled to hold out for three points against the Sky Blues.

The hosts were unable to muster a single shot on target as the Clarets preserved their clean sheet for the first time since August when beating Millwall by a couple of goals at Turf Moor.

"It was the ideal script," said the Premier League Hall of Famer. "I'm not saying that is what I wanted before the game, I would have preferred to put the game behind us a bit earlier, because when you're on top of a game it's important to be able to finish it off.

"We weren't capable of doing it today but, with what happened in the week, it was the ideal script, to have to battle it out for the last 5/10 minutes. What I liked as well, it was still a hard running team, it's not like we were just shifting, we were pressurising, but just protecting our goal a bit more.

"It was the ideal script and that is what the Championship does for you. You don't get any time to dwell, you've got to learn from the pain, put it behind you and move on. We did that very well."

A moment of quality from Southampton's Nathan Tella was the difference between the two sides in the West Midlands as the 23-year-old collected Josh Cullen's pass and fired across Ben Wilson.

It was the ex-Arsenal Academy star's fifth goal of the campaign, which moved him level on goals with leading scorer Jay Rodriguez. "It's a big emphasis for us," Kompany said.

"As teams play with a back five, and sometimes sit a little bit deeper, it's the type of game we've faced a few times, so you can't have your players resting and waiting in positions to get the ball.

"At times you've got to stretch the line, make runs, disrupt the back line, and Nathan [Tella] has been successful a few times with that this season. He keeps doing that and he gives us something else.

"The impressive thing for me is the variety of goals he has scored. I'm used to squared balls, tap-ins, that sort of stuff, but that one is a difficult one with the way he brings it down and puts it in the opposite side of the net when it's bouncing. There aren't many strikers who would have scored that goal."