Charlie missed one or two chances during the second half before scoring from close range to ensure we won all three points, but his arrival made a big difference to the Clarets during a much better show after the break.
His performance won him 24.9% of the man of the match vote and that was narrowly ahead of Ross Wallace, scorer of the equaliser, to which Austin had also made a valuable contribution. Wallace was our best performer in the first half and, like Austin, made a big contribution in the second half.
Goalkeeper Lee Grant took third place. He looked assured throughout and made outstanding saves in each half, none better than the save from Cody McDonald just before half time and from Sammy Clingan's second half free kick.
The same three players took the top three places in the player ratings too. Again it was Austin in front with a rating of 7.64 out of 10. This time it was Grant in second place, and he wasn't far behind Austin with a rating of 7.55, and Wallace, with 6.91 out of 10, took third place.
That gives Austin six points towards the Clarets Mad Player of the Year with three points each to Grant and Wallace. It means no change right at the top but Austin and Grant now share fourth place whilst Wallace is in joint seventh position.
Voting is still underway for the Carling Cup game at Cardiff and will end tonight. The man of the match poll can be found on the front page of the site or on the VOTING POLLS page whilst the PLAYER RATINGS are on the message board.
The result from the Coventry game is below along with the current player of the year table
Man of the Match
24.9% - Charlie Austin (72 votes)22.8% - Ross Wallace (66 votes) 18.7% - Lee Grant (54 votes) 8.7% - Junior Stanislas (25 votes) 5.2% - Marvin Bartley (15 votes) 3.8% - Kieran Trippier (11 votes) 3.5% - David Edgar (10 votes) 3.1% - Jay Rodriguez (9 votes) 2.8% - Chris McCann (8 votes) 2.4% - Ben Mee (7 votes) 2.1% - Brian Easton (6 votes) 1.7% - Keith Treacy (5 votes) 1.4% - Andre Amougou (4 votes)
Player Ratings
7.64 - Charlie Austin7.55 - Lee Grant6.91 - Ross Wallace6.36 - Kieran Trippier6.00 - Ben Mee5.82 - Jay Rodriguez5.64 - David Edgar5.55 - Andre Amougou & Brian Easton5.45 - Chris McCann5.36 - Marvin Bartley & Junior Stanislas4.18 - Keith Treacy
Clarets Mad Player of the Year
25: Marvin Bartley24: Kieran Trippier20: Andre Amougou18: Charlie Austin & Lee Grant16: Jay Rodriguez11: David Edgar & Ross Wallace10: Chris McCann & Keith Treacy9: Brian Easton5: Wade Elliott & Junior Stanislas2: Ben Mee1: Michael Duff
Source: FOOTYMAD
