Anyway, Barnsley aren't expecting Chelski until next weekend.

If Roman Abramovich mark II does have a few billion roubles and Sheffield Wednesday on his shopping list, he apparently gave the team and the match with Barnsley a swerve.

Good move.

This was a cold war of a game; grim, hard-faced, as much fun as an afternoon in a gulag.

Think cars. It was a Lada, second-hand, bottom of the range.

The gale-force gusting winds whipping about Oakwell guaranteed not much football broke out. More chance of beach volleyball in Siberia or crown green bowling in the Urals.

Neither manager pretended anything other than it was low- grade stuff.

Wednesday got a sliver more from it than Barnsley. Mostly because Rob Kozluk got sent off at the end.

His second yellow card was for a lunge on Marcus Tudgay. A week after Birmingham's Martin Taylor splayed Eduardo's Arsenal ankle all over the top of his boot, referee Steve Tanner wasn't going to let that go.

Off went the left-back and Wednesday produced the best moment of the game with Burton O'Brien smacking a 25-yarder on to keeper Luke Steele's left-hand post.

The final whistle was welcomed by the Barnsley bench as well as anyone who had come for the entertainment.

Barnsley manager Simon Davey spoke after Wednesday boss Brian Laws gave his Press conference.

Said Davey: "The conditions have won today, it wasn't a classic spectacle."

Agreed. It wasn't any sort of spectacle at all.

"I think the players can be forgiven if they couldn't get the quality they wanted," Laws reckoned.

Davey felt the opening spell belonged to Barnsley.

"I thought for the first half-hour we were the better team and we should have scored," he said.

"In the second half our two centre -backs were magnificent and Luke Steele was fantastic. Likewise their (Wednesday) two centre-backs were magnificent in the first half. It tells the story that the six best players on the pitch were the centre-backs and goalkeepers."

Laws added: "Both sides showed endeavour and had a real go. We could have got a little bit more from it. You've got to take your chances when they come.

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"We looked very solid. There are a lot of positives I can take out of this. We stifled Barnsley, who have got a very good home record. We've got a difficult run-in, this point could be very important to us."

Barnsley were missing suspended central defender Dennis Sousa. Wednesday winger Jermaine Johnson was also serving a ban.

Injury robbed Barnsley of Anderson de Silva and Wednesday of Lee Bullen.

Worst news of the day from the Barnsley camp concerned de Silva.

Davey announced the Brazilian midfielder, possibly the best player at Oakwell right now, has severed knee ligaments. His season is over.

Bobby Hassell, a self-confessed right-back, found himself in midfield again alongside Brian Howard, who found himself more or less man-marked by Adam Bolder.

For Wednesday Wade Small cropped up on the left.

An early kick on the thigh held him back and led to his substitution early in the second half.

He made way for Ben Sahar, the teenager from Chelsea who after this display has to start against West Brom on Tuesday.

An ugly first half brought little more than three bookings and a penalty appeal.

Small and Hassell were both yellow-carded for unsporting behaviour. Kozluk's first caution was for a foul on Tudgay.

It was Small who went down under a challenge from Marciano van Homoet inside the box. Ref Tanner didn't give the incident a second glance.

Barnsley had the best of what else was on offer early on with Jon Macken and Jamal Campbell-Ryce the pick of the players going forward.

At last a glimmer of a chance, in the 43rd minute. Graham Kavanagh's free-kick was flicked on and Richard Woods was almost nose to nose with keeper Steele. His header was gloved over,.

After the break, Steele held Enoch Showunmi's angled shot from inside the penalty area and pulled off the best save of the match when holding on to Sahar's goalbound effort from 25 yards.

Both sides made changes, with Showunmi making way for Deon Burton. Barnsley winger Martin Devaney replaced Diego Leon and Kayode Odejayi took the place of striker Daniel Nardiello.

Owls keeper Lee Grant kept his side on terms with 10 minutes remaining, parrying Stephen Foster's firm header.

Kozluk saw his yellow card upgraded to red just before the 90 minutes was up before the woodwork prevented O'Brien being hero of a pretty dismal day.

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