Southampton manager Nigel Adkins refused to get carried away after Rickie Lambert hit a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Brighton that maintained his team's five-point lead at the top of the Championship.
Adkins' side made it 20 successive home wins on Saturday thanks to a second-half treble from Lambert, the division's top scorer, who opened the scoring in the 49th minute before taking his league tally to the season to 12 with penalties in the 58th and 69th minutes.
Brighton played over half an hour with a man less after defender Mauricio Taricco was shown a straight red card for dissent in the aftermath of the first penalty decision.
But Adkins said: "That's probably as poor as we've played this season in the first half.
"Credit to the players though, we adapted our shape and created a goal. Frazer puts a great ball in and Rickie gets the goal. After that we kept our discipline and got a good victory."
Second-placed West Ham remain hot on Southampton's heels after fighting back from a half-time deficit to beat struggling Coventry 2-1 at the Ricoh Arena.
Coventry, looking for only a second win in 11 league games, took a 33rd minute lead through Clive Platt but two goals in six second half minutes from substitutes Carlton Cole and Frederic Piquionne earned West Ham the points.
Hammers boss Allardyce said: "We changed the system and once we got Freddie Piquionne and Carlton Cole on, it was then that the game changed in our favour. For me, it was only a matter of time before we started to score goals.
"I can call myself the master tactician! It's another valuable three points towards our target and for only the second time we are exactly where we want to be which is 34 points after 17 games."
Third-placed Middlesbrough lost ground on the leading pair after they were held 2-2 at home by Blackpool.
Scott McDonald twice put Boro in front, but they were cancelled out by efforts from Ludovic Sylvestre and Jonjo Shelvey.
"We played very well, we created a lot of very good opportunities, we hit the post and their keeper made some very good saves," Middlesbrough manager Tony Mowbray said.
"And yes it is frustrating that twice we were in front and we couldn't see the game out."
That result allowed fourth-placed Cardiff to close the gap on Boro to one point after they claimed a 2-1 win at Reading, Peter Whittingham opening the scoring in the second minute and Mark Hudson adding a second 20 minutes from time before Reading pulled a goal back through Jimmy Kebe.
In the day's early kick-off, a late double from Robert Snodgrass earned Leeds a 2-1 comeback win over Burnley at Turf Moor.
Burnley had taken a 10th minute lead through a Jay Rodriguez header but Snodgrass struck in the 76th and 89th minutes to help Leeds claim the win and move into the top five.
Hull enjoyed the ideal start under new caretaker manager Nick Barmby as they picked up a 2-0 away win over Derby. Both goals came in the opening 23 minutes with Matt Fryatt and Cameron Stewart the men on target.
Elsewhere, Marcus Tudgay scored a stoppage-time winner to earn Nottingham Forest a 3-2 home victory over Ipswich.
Watford picked up their third win in four matches after seeing off Portsmouth 2-0, Birmingham and Peterborough played out a 1-1 draw, while Doncaster remain rooted to the foot of the table after going down 2-0 at Barnsley.
Source: AFP
