TWO weeks without a game - bliss. But just try telling that to Ade Akinbiyi because that's probably the last thing he needs right now.

While the Burnley striker spent the past fortnight stewing over his all-too-brief debut against Sunderland, he now has another reason to rue his next 14-day spell of inactivity.

But it is a far happier one.

Akinbiyi rediscovered his scoring touch at Bramall Lane when he halved Sheffield United's lead with six minutes to go.

Only now he has a frustrating wait to capitalise on this boost to his confidence before Burnley host Watford a week on Saturday.

And don't forget that before he joined Burnley, a combination of injury and contract dispute at Stoke had sidelined him since January.

Still, the statistic of one start and one goal, rather than one substitute appearance and one red card, is much more like it.

And in truth Akinbiyi can use the break, which all his team-mates will welcome with open arms following six games in 18 days, to work on general fitness and sharpen up his overall game.

Burnley boss Steve Cotterill noted that his £600,000 signing looked "rusty" on his first start since leaving Stoke last month.

And he also admitted that Akinbiyi's late strike was no more than a consolation even though his side still had some time to rescue a point.

But the significance of the goal in the longer term shouldn't be overlooked.

It gets the 30-year-old forward off the mark, always a hefty weight off the shoulders of any striker desperate to make a good first (or in this case second) impression at a new club.

It showed Akinbiyi's strength of character, being able to silence the Bramall Lane hordes who taunted him throughout the second half with chants of 'what a waste of money' even though their own boss was hustling to buy him when he moved to Turf Moor.

And it shows the Clarets have a type of goal touch they have been missing all season.

It's not the Robbie Blake type of touch, it's the untidy touch, the awkward touch that, as Burnley found to their cost when Akinbiyi scored twice against them in September, can be so difficult to detect and defend against in the box.

The goal was a scrappy effort, scuffed in from eight yards, but it was enough to deceive Blades keeper Paddy Kenny, who was committed the wrong way and could only watch the ball bobble in over his despairing outstretched boot.

What's that saying about it doesn't matter how they go in?

However, the nature of Burnley's goal wasn't really in keeping with their overall performance, especially in the first half when they should have wrapped the game up.

The passing was neat and tidy, while the storming support for Akinbiyi from midfield pulled United's defence all over the place.

Graham Branch was off target with two early half-chances before Akinbiyi was sent clear in the 20th minute.

But he blew his chance to open his Clarets account by dragging his shot inches wide from the right edge of the six-yard box.

It must have irritated Cotterill that Burnley weren't testing Kenny despite the chances they were creating, and the only save he had to make in this period of pressure was fairly routine, from the lively Dean Bowditch's low drive.

But then a crisp one-touch move involving Bowditch, Akinbiyi and Branch ended with the latter threading a fine ball through to the rampaging Mo Camara,whose shot was deflected into the side-netting by Rob Kozluk.

All those spurned opportunities came back to haunt Burnley in the 29th minute as they let Alan Quinn ghost in at the far post to volley the opening goal.

Kozluk swung in a cross from the right and Brian Jensen's ill-judged decision to come for it led to him palming the ball feebly into the path of Quinn, who gleefully accepted the gift.

The Blades, whose only previous chance was blazed over by John Harley, could have twisted the knife in further before half-time but Jensen atoned for his error by saving twice from Steve Kabba with his legs.

But even between these efforts and Quinn's goal the chances kept coming for Burnley.

A free kick looped up onto Michael Duff's head, and although he seemed to have the freedom of the Yorkshire Dales, nodded it straight into Kenny's welcoming arms.

Then Camara's cross was cleared as far as John Oster, but he couldn't steer his volley on target.

The ultimate price for such wastefulness was paid four minutes into the second half when Andy Gray effectively sealed Sheffield's place in the play-off positions on Saturday night by springing the offside trap and sliding in the second.

After this the game became more niggly, mainly thanks to Kabba's diving masterclass, which led to bookings for both himself and Gary Cahill.

And, given that lethargy was in evidence at Wolves on Tuesday, Burnley inevitably tired and it was little surprise that Akinbiyi's weary swing at the ball after Ian Moore's fine pull-back was all they had to show for their efforts.

So a good time for a well-earned rest, you might think. But not according to Cotterill.

"We could have done with this a month ago," was his wry reflection on leaving Yorkshire with a far less hectic schedule to look forward to.