Darren Huckerby upstaged Matthew Le Tissier in his own backyard in stunning style with a goal straight from the Southampton star's archives.

Le Tissier had been on the field for less than two minutes as a substitute before the England B international produced a contender for goal of the season at The Dell.

The Sky Blues were already one ahead thanks to Noel Whelan's 14th-minute effort when Huckerby struck his 10th - and easily the best - league goal of the season on 29 minutes.

As Le Tissier attempted to adjust to the pace of the game Noel Whelan picked up a loose pass inside his own half and set off on a surging run.

He advanced 15 yards into the Saints half before laying the ball out to Huckerby who drifted in from the left wing and unleashed a first time curling right foot past a stunned Paul Jones into the top corner.

It was a flash of brilliance in an otherwise mediocre first half that Coventry comfortably had the better of and the Highfield Road outfit deserved their lead.

Le Tissier did manage to get on the score sheet after he was brought down by Roland Nilsson before picking himself up to slot home the penalty after 79 minutes.

That set up a frantic last 10 minutes but Coventry held on for a deserved victory that lifted them to 10th in the table.

The visitors had opened the scoring on 14 minutes with Whelan's fourth goal in the last six league games.

He collected David Burrows' deep cross at the back of the penalty and beat two half-hearted challenges from Lee Todd and Claus Lundekvam before firing past Jones at his near post.

Southampton had lost just once in the last eight games in a run that included victories over Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool.

But they rarely threatened in the opening period and the biggest cheer of the night came after 27 minutes with the appearance of Matthew Le Tissier as a substitute for the unfortunate Andy Williams.

Saints' excuse was that they were forced to make several changes from the side that had won at Anfield 11 days ago with new signing John Beresford suspended due to bookings picked up at Newcastle.

Andy Williams came in for Beresford, Egil Ostenstad replaced ankle-injury victim Kevin Davies while Carlton Palmer returned from suspension in place of David Hughes.

Coventry boss Gordon Strachan was also forced into changes and gave first Premiership starts to two players.

Record signing Viorel Moldovan partnered Darren Huckerby up front with Dion Dublin switching to centre-half in the absence of Richard Shaw.

Strachan also kept things in the family with a first start for his son Gavin who came in for the suspended Paul Telfer.

Darren Huckerby posed the home defence some difficult questions with his pace and Todd had to make a superb last ditch tackle to prevent the youngster getting a shot on target at the end of a dazzling run.

Saints eventually managed a worthwhile effort on target through David Hirst but it took until the 44th minute and was straight at Magnus Hedman.

The home side were a different team in the second half and were unlucky not to reduce the deficit after 53 minutes.

Le Tissier's neat flick found Hirst in space in the area only for the former Sheffield Wednesday man's lob to come back off the bar.

Ostenstad followed up but Hedman did well to recover his position and block the shot.

Le Tissier was beginning to exert an influence and he forced another good save from the Swedish goalkeeper with a left foot shot after a sublime piece of close control.

Coventry were still creating chances of their own however, Marcus Hall dragging a left foot shot wide from just outside the area.

And Jones needed to be at his best to prevent Huckerby putting the result beyond doubt after 67 minutes.

Moldovan fed Huckerby on the overlap and his stinging shot was superbly turned over the bar by the former Stockport keeper.

Eventually the breakthrough came for Saints via the penalty spot and Saints came within inches of snatching a dramatic point.

Ostenstad's lob almost got over Hedman who just managed to claw it from under the bar and Dublin reacted quickest to thump the ball off the line.

Teams:

Southampton: Jones, Dodd, Todd (Spedding 51), Richardson (Hughes 69), Monkou, Lundekvam, Ostenstad, Palmer, Hirst, Williams (Le Tissier 28), Oakley. Subs Not Used: Dryden, Moss.

Goals: Le Tissier 79 pen.

Coventry: Hedman, Nilsson, Burrows, Moldovan, Breen, Strachan (Boland 78), Soltvedt, Huckerby, Dublin, Whelan, Hall.

Subs Not Used: Johansen, Prenderville, Haworth, Ogrizovic.

Goals: Whelan 14, Huckerby 29.

Att: 15,091

Ref: P E Alcock (Redhill).