Burnley 1 Sheffield Wednesday 0 - Pete Oliver's match verdict

IT will take more than a howling gale to knock Burnley out of their stride at the moment as they overcame a buffeting by the elements to continue their love affair with the First Division.

The gusting wind and driving rain at Turf Moor last night had more of a cutting edge than a beleaguered Sheffield Wednesday side that looks all washed up.

And an unwanted club record of eight successive League defeats duly came their way when Steve Davis headed home a 74th-minute winner from Burnley's 10th corner of a game the Clarets almost completely dominated.

Wednesday boss Paul Jewell confessed that the best his bottom-of-the-table side could have hoped for was a 0-0 draw such was their impotence in attack.

It therefore became merely a question of if Burnley could score as one goal was always going to be enough to guarantee all three points for the home side.

And after much huffing and puffing and a few close calls Davis provided the answer with his third goal in three games.

"As long as you are creating chances hopefully sooner or later one will go in," said Burnley boss Stan Ternent.

"I thought the back four were excellent, I thought we showed a lot of patience and I thought the supporters were top-drawer as well because we didn't give them a great deal to shout about in the first half apart from a two-minute spell.

"In the second half we played a lot better and the skipper got us the winner. And I think we deserved that.

"If you put the ball in with quality then I know the skipper will get on the end of it." Micky Mellon certainly provided the quality from the Clarets' set-pieces and Davis had threatened a number of times before he held off the attention of his marker to stoop and head the ball past Kevin Pressman from no more than eight yards out.

The long-serving duo of Pressman and Des Walker must sometimes expect to wake up from the nightmare that has engulfed Wednesday in the past couple of seasons.

Following hard on the heels of relegation, the Sheffield club has lost almost an entire side to a combination of injuries, disillusionment, lack of commitment and financial necessity.

Instead of Paulo Di Canio, Wednesday are now buying Ian Hendon, with no slur intended on the former Northampton full-back who was as good as most if not all of the Sheffield side.

Hendon at least provides some experience and Burnley have shown perfectly the value of that.

In each of the last two summers there have been questions raised about the Clarets' transfer policy.

But Burnley's remarkable rise suggests that the manager knew what he was doing. Mitchell Thomas had another outstanding game last night and Kevin Ball's influence as a midfield dictator continues to grow.

Throw in the likes of Davis, Mellon and Ian Cox, an unbelievable steal at just £500,000, and Ternent's judgement has been fully vindicated. Wednesday's youngsters had no answer as they made virtually no head way. To their credit, the visitors didn't duck a fight but were always hanging on at best.

Burnley didn't stay on top of their game for the full 90 minutes but played well enough, and very well in patches, and gradually turned up the heat in search of the decisive goal.

Glen Little will always be missed but Paul Weller was still too tricky for the Wednesday defence and with Graham Branch proving equally effective on the opposite flank following his early switch for the luckless Paul Cook, the Clarets should have been in front by half-time. However, Weller found the angle against him from a beautiful Branch cross and allowed Pressman to save with his legs and uncharacteristically Andy Payton steered a side-footer wide of the far post a minute before the break.

With Wednesday barely mustering a shot it was all about the Clarets and Payton, having overran the ball, and Ball were both denied by Pressman early in the second half.

However, with Mellon as much a threat from set-pieces as he was in open play it was only a matter of time before Burnley made their superiority count.

And just before any frustration might have crept in Davis settled the issue.

Weller won the decisive corner with another neat piece of trickery and the Mellon-Davis combination did the rest to find a way past Pressman, who had moments earlier gone full length to deny Branch.

There were further chances to add a second but Wednesday could still be playing now and wouldn't have scored.

It's a sorry tale for the Owls but Burnley have been there and now deserve their place in the sun after such an impressive first quarter to the season.