IN a week when Sean Dyche has been front and centre for the Clarets, whether it be celebrating his fifth anniversary or batting away questions over his future, his side have produced two textbook Dyche performances.

The Burnley boss brought up five years in the job with the late 1-0 win over Newcastle last Monday and then repeated the trick on the road at Southampton for good measure.

This was a near perfect away performance, and when the Clarets looked to be under pressure it was Dyche who changed the game from the bench.

For half an hour Burnley were untroubled. When the Saints then got up a head of steam they defended resolutely, and when the chance came to win it as the clock ticked down they took it.

This success, remarkably a third on the road in six away games this term, will only brighten the spotlight on the Turf Moor boss. Frankly, if Everton aren’t considering him then they’re doing it wrong.

One theory surrounding Dyche is that he has hit a glass ceiling with the Clarets. How much further can he go? But then we’ve thought that on countless occasions during his reign in East Lancashire, and the floor is littered with the glass from those ceilings that have been well and truly shattered.

Premier League survival last season was the latest box to be ticked, but with Michael Keane and Andre Gray moving on how much further could the Clarets go?

Quite a way, it turns out. Last season’s away day woes are a thing of the past, with a win at Southampton added to those successes at Chelsea and Everton, as well as draws at Tottenham and Liverpool.

That’s helped Burnley to a scarcely believable 19 points from 11 games, with just two defeats.

The longer this fixture went on the more likely it seemed that Burnley would be the side who snatched it. They’ve done it so often that these kind of wins are almost second nature now. It’s four 1-0 wins in a row in the Premier League.

Three of those have been secured with Nick Pope in goal and just seven games into his top flight career he already looks a veteran at this level.

Nominated for the Premier League player of the month award on Friday, his dream rise continued with a fine display on the south coast.

There had been little of note in the first half hour before Southampton enjoyed a strong spell. Pope turned Sofiane Boufal’s volley round the post and got down low to deny Nathan Redmond.

In the second half he made amends for dropping a corner with an acrobatic stop to keep Maya Yoshida’s volley out.

At this point the Clarets were on the back foot and they hadn’t really threatened since a Johann Berg Gudmundsson drive flew wide early on.

But the introduction of Sam Vokes and Ashley Barnes helped them regain the initiative, and it was Saints fan Vokes who came up with the winner eight minutes from time.

He brilliantly headed Gudmundsson’s cross into the corner from 12 yards, before celebrating in the corner where dad Tim, a season ticket holder at St Mary’s, sits.

The final whistle brought wonderful scenes between Clarets players and fans.

If this is to be the end, then it would be a fitting one, but let’s hope it’s simply the latest leg of a remarkable journey, rather than the full stop on a five years that no Burnley fan is ever going to forget.