A POINT was of little satisfaction for Wanderers, who remain in the Championship’s bottom three after a tepid performance against Sheffield Wednesday.

On the plus side it was their first clean sheet of the campaign – but that was of little solace to those who were hoping the international break would provide a chance to kick-start the season.

The two sides shared just a handful of shots on target but it was the Owls’ greater sense of urgency in the second half in particular was what left a sour taste in the mouth this evening.

Wanderers lived on their nerves at times and both Matt Mills and Dean Moxey were forced to clear the ball off their own line to preserve the status quo.

No wonder then that the home support left the Macron under a familiar cloud – many still underwhelmed by Dougie Freedman’s performance at the helm.

The Wanderers boss had sprung a surprise before kick-off by making six changes from the side beaten at Leeds a fortnight ago.

Owen Garvan was handed his debut, while American Tim Ream was preferred at right-back to youngsters Hayden White and Oscar Threlkeld. Andy Lonergan also came in for Adam Bogdan, who suffered a hand injury in training on Friday.

The biggest change of note, though, was Mark Davies, who came in for his first start since March.

The mere mention of the midfielder’s name on the pre-match team-sheet roused a sparsely-populated Macron Stadium but the spark Wanderers fans had been hoping for never really turned up.

The first half’s only real clear-cut chance materialised on 23 minutes when Jaques Maghoma’s drifted cross caught out two Wanderers defenders and landed at the feet of winger Chris Maguire. He took one touch and beat Lonergan with his second – but retreating defender Matt Mills managed to get back on the line to partially clear the danger before Maguire fired into the side-netting with his second effort.

Otherwise it was a fairly turgid 45 minutes.

Stevie May and a few thousand Wednesday fans thought he had opened the scoring with a fine swivelling volley, only for the linesman to rule the goal out for a push.

From a Wanderers perspective, there was some neat football at times but lone striker Joe Mason presented a very small target to aim at.

Liam Feeney caused as many problems as anyone scampering down the left to earn his side a few corners – but they too came to nothing.

Just as the half looked to be slipping into obscurity there was a brief scare at the back for Wanderers as a weak back-header from Ream failed to find Lonergan and man-mountain Atdhe Nuhiu collapsed as the keeper came out to claim the ball.

Referee Andy Haines pointed straight for a goal kick, leaving Wednesday’s Austrian striker looking up in disbelief.

The players disappeared back down the tunnel to grumbles of disappointment – but they got little by way of improvement after the break.

Joe Mattock, who had scored a screamer against the Whites at Hillsborough back in April, somehow put a free header into the turf and over the bar after connecting with Maguire’s 47th minute corner.

It took Bolton 55 minutes to get a shot in on Keiren Westwood’s goal and it came from skipper Jay Spearing after Mark Davies’s effort had been charged down. Almost immediately Wednesday switched play to the other end where Nuhiu looked like getting in on goal only for Andy Lonergan to race off his line and claim the ball.

Little did we know at the time, but that was as good as it would get in an attacking sense from the Whites.

Lonergan saved his side again moments later, parrying a shot from Nuhiu after a mistake from Garvan in midfield had gifted possession to Maghoma.

Frustration was starting to boil over and Dean Moxey might have been lucky not to see a second yellow for a crunching tackle on Wednesday sub Royston Drenthe.

Freedman opted to change things by bringing on Darren Pratley for Mark Davies and Jermaine Beckford for Owen Garvan.

It was the striker’s first appearance since his controversial salute to Leeds United fans before the international break, and it was clear from the home supporters’ response to his arrival that they were not quite ready to forgive and forget.

Wednesday continued to carve out opportunities to the end and May went close with a dipping shot with 18 minutes to go.

Nuhiu then stuttered over another decent chance in front of goal before both May and Drenthe put efforts off target.

Right at the death, Dean Moxey made another goal-line clearance after Tom Lees got above everyone to power a header towards goal.

Drenthe almost stole the show with the game’s final chance, curling a shot just over the bar after stealing on to Joe Mattock’s searching pass.