Sheffield Wednesday finished their run of five League defeats with a well-earned 1-1 draw at Burnley on Saturday afternoon.

After a slow start to the match, The Owls made a quick recovery from Wade Elliott's 55th minute strike as Deon Burton headed his seventh goal of the season.

Brian Laws made three changes to the side that lost 3-1 to Preston North End at Hillsborough the previous weekend. New loanee, Steve Watson replaced youngster, Mark Beevers at the back and Steve MacLean returned to the side in place of Marcus Tudgay.

Midfielder, Glenn Whelan, was unavailable and Yoann Folly came into the starting line-up as the Irishman's replacement.

Despite a scrappy opening 15 minutes, recently returned Burnley striker, Ade Akinbiyi wasted a good opportunity when he was unmarked early on, producing a weak header from the edge of six-yard box early on.

Akinbiyi provided cross also provided a low cross, which Steve Jones miscued at the far post but there were few clear-cut opportunities for either side during the opening stages at Turf Moor.

Midway through the first half, the crossbar came to The Owls' rescue though when a third corner in quick succession, direct from Gudjonsson's right boot, bounced off the top of the goal frame and away to safety.

By this time Wednesday were starting to find more rhythm in their game and a great ball in from the left by Brunt found Burton just inside the Burnley penalty area. The striker turned his man and fired in a low left-foot shot from 15-yards, which Clarets keeper, Danny Coyne, saved well down to his right.

With bad weather and injuries affecting The Owls' defence again preparations could have been easier for Laws but his side started to find their feet with Bullen and Watson looking comfortable at the heart of defence.

Watson did particularly well when winger, Jones, raced past Folly and into the Wednesdsay box but the Wednesday new boy made a good sliding block.

At the other end, MacLean played Small down the right channel but the wide man's shot flew wide of Coyne's upright.

Wednesday found another opening ten minutes before halftime when Brunt's corner found Spurr at the far post, but the defender's first touch allowed Coyne to set himself to make another important save.

Brunt then played a great diagonal ball to find Small on the right side of the Burnley box and Harley's foul on the Wednesday man gave Brunt an opportunity with a whipped free kick, which was deflected just wide.

Akinbiyi failed to make another header count as the first half drew to a close before he got free in the Owl's box and forced Crossley to get down at his near post to prevent an opener.

Both sides came out after the interval with a greater sense of purpose though and the game sparked into life ten minutes after the restart when the Clarets took the lead.

Wade Elliott pounced when Spurr's attempted clearance bounced into his path. The Burnley man unleashed a powerful low shot from the edge of the box and Crossley's hand couldn't take the power off the shot as it found its way into his goal.

Wednesday were not behind for long though, and the home crowd's excitement had barely died down when Burton struck his seventh goal of the season. Brunt whipped in a telling corner and the Jamaica international's downward header from close range bounced up into the roof of Coyne's net on 58 minutes.

Both teams started to attack with more vigour and as the home side looked to regain their lead, Andy Gray sliced over from the edge of the six yard box.

Brunt's deep free kick was then palmed for a corner by Coyne, under pressure from Burton, and the resulting corner saw Watson blaze a shot just over from the edge of the box

Wednesday started to take the ascendancy and put the Claret's back line under considerable pressure. Small found himself in space in the 69th minute and charged into the penalty area forcing Coyne into a good save with MacLean ready to pounce.

From an almost identical position just a minute later, Small again fired goalwards and McGreal was relieved when his deflection took the Wednesday winger's effort onto the outside of the near post.

Despite the better possession and pressure on the Burnley defence, Wednesday could not find a way through and the last few minutes saw the visitors under the cosh themselves. Crossley did well to save at his near post when Elliott looked set to score his second in the dying stages.

An edgy five minutes of stoppage time ensued but neither side could find a winner and Laws will be glad to see his team get their first point of 2007 on the board ahead of the trip to Luton Town on February 20.

Sheffield Wednesday (442): Crossley; Simek, Bullen (c), Watson, Spurr; Small (Clarke 88), Lunt, Folly, Brunt; Burton, MacLean (Tudgay 88).

Subs not used: Adamson, Gilbert, Beevers.

Burnley (442): Coyne; Duff, McGreal, Caldwell, Harley; Jones (McCann 83), O'Connor, Gudjonsson (Djemba-Djemba 77), Elliott; Gray (Lafferty 77), Akinbiyi.

Subs not used: Thomas, Foster.

Referee: Mr N Miller

Attendance: 12,745