Owls suffer on in silence. With slideshow

WEDNESDAY fans suffered mostly in silence last night as their team's start to the season became more depressing than ever.

The most remarkable aspect of a sixth consecutive defeat and the worst home performance so far was the way the crowd showed restraint and patience.

The vast majority did not get on players' backs; they did not attack the chairman or manager.

They were just desperate for something to cheer them up and were quick to appreciate any promising work from their team.

But they waited mostly in vain for things to admire; many left before the final whistle; from those who saw it through, there were some inevitable boos of frustration at the end.

Wednesday were tentative; they were short of confidence; they were stunned by an early goal against them which came less than a minute after their own first chance, and then they were killed off when sloppy defending led to a second Burnley goal at the start of the second half.

They lost the initiative very early in the match, and then were unable to rattle a Clarets side who solidly protected what they had.

After a calamitous start to the season, those who wondered what else could go wrong had their answers: the Owls lost their most experienced player, Steve Watson, at half time to a back injury, and the second goal stemmed from a very rare mistake by a player who has been one of their most consistent for the last 18 months, Frankie Simek.

In most of the previous games, the Owls could fairly claim that they had their moments and could have got some reward. Not this time, though it must still be said that the match could have taken a different course if they, and not Burnley, had taken the lead in a see-saw 14th minute.

It was reasonable enough for Brian Laws to stick mostly with the players who had come close to a breakthrough at Preston last Saturday.

He made one change, with Kenny Lunt replacing Yoann Folly in midfield.

Burnley, attacking the Kop end, made the first half chance in a quiet opening to the game, with ex-United striker Andy Gray shooting hurriedly and wide from 18 yards.

The home crowd sensed a possible goal as Wade Small beat a man beautifully and surged towards the box. But he tried a pass instead of shooting, and Burnley mopped up.

The volume rose after the moment when the Owls could have taken the lead: Francis Jeffers cleverly flicked the ball to Akpo Sodje and took a return pass before checking inside on to his left foot and blasting in a low shot that was well blocked by Gabor Kiraly.

Almost immediately, Wednesday then found themselves one down.

Right winger Wade Elliott escaped into space and crossed low; Tommy Spurr half-cleared at the near-post area, and Robbie Blake pounced on the loose ball, cunningly eluding Watson before driving his shot past Lee Grant's left hand.

Three minutes later wednesday fans' hearts were in their mouths when Blake got in a shot on the turn; it was safely held by Grant.

You could sense that the crowd were just yearning for something to encourage them; a lay-off by Jeffers to Etienne Esajas was high quality, and a promising move ended with Lunt firing high over the bar.

But the Owls were caught out at the back again, by a lovely ball by Wade Elliott inside Frankie Simek, and Northern Ireland international Kyle Lafferty saw his resulting half-hearted effort saved with some difficulty by Grant.

Esajas lifted spirits by beating his marker with supreme skill and drove a low ball just inches too far ahead of Wade Small.

Too often Wednesday's lacked a telling final ball; their nerves and those of the home crowd were not helped by Burnley pressure in stoppage time or by the half-time withdrawal of skipper Watson, who was replaced by Richard Hinds.

The Owls desperately needed a breakthrough but fell further behind less than two minutes after the restart.

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Click here to see readers' letters on the situation at Hillsborough in Fanzone.Simek lost the ball to Blake; and midfield man Chris McCann struck home a low drive.

Burnley then looked comfortable and were hard to break down; Wednesday made little headway.

Esajas again gave a glimmer of hope; he jinked past centre half Clarke Carlisle just outside the box and won a free kick. Lunt's effort was acrobatically kept out of the top left-hand corner by Kiraly.

The crowd tended to confine their frustrations to outbursts against some maddening decisions by the referee in one 10-minute spell.

Wednesday's play in the closing stages was not without some quality, and Esajas again showed skill before cracking in two shots - one past the angle, another into the keeper's arms.

But on the whole there was too little threat from the Owls, and they have yet to keep a clean sheet.