Injury doubts about Hungarian international midfielder Akso Buzsaky having dissolved with the Yorkshire mists that delayed the departure of Argyle's Tuesday morning Air Southwest flight from Plymouth City Airport, there was no arguing with Pulis's decision, even if it meant that the only Pilgrim with recent experience of a Hillsborough victory began as substitute.

Since new loan signing Elliott Ward, who represented West Ham in a 4-2 Carling Cup victory over Wednesday earlier in the season, had linked up with his new team-mates only hours before, the decision to start with Elliott on the bench was entirely understandable.

Ward actually made his debut as an injury-time (wasting) substitute and went perilously close to heading a winner from a late Tony Capaldi free-kick.

Making bench room for the 20-year-old centre-back was Scot Taylor, with Pulis preferring to have another young loan player, Blackburn's Matt Derbyshire, as his potential shocktroop striker.

Wednesday started with three centre-backs, one - the recalled Graeme Lee - alongside Gabriel Agbonlahor, also recalled, in attack, signalling Sturrock's intent to put the Pilgrims' centre-backs under pressure, with a revolving cast of wide men, including Chris Eagles and Chris Brunt, to provide the supply.

Right-back Frank Simek, who conceded the penalty from which Paul Wotton equalised in the 1-1 draw between the two sides at Home Park, also returned, after suspension, but Lee Bullen was injured and Lee Peacock and strikers David Graham and Lee Peacock omitted.

Former Pilgrims Graham Coughlan and Steve Adams were sidelined with identical Achilles injuries.

Eagles came close to taking advantage of the early breakdown of a cute, training-ground, Argyle throw-in move on the edge of the Wednesday box. His rapid break preceded a low cross into the box towards Agbonlahor which was cut out by Paul Connolly, which is just as well since it was Connolly alone who had played the entire move onside.

That apart, the first 15 minutes passed relatively incident-free at either end of the pitch. Argyle gave another indication that Pulis's behind-the-scenes organisation has extended to set-piece work by executing a short free-kick move designed to get in behind the defensive wall which earned a corner, but nothing more.

Wednesday flexed a little home muscle with a long-range shot from Brunt and a Lee header, both of which extended only Argyle goalkeeper Romain Larrieu's heart-rate.

The game was held up midway through the half when Wednesday central defender Richard Wood mistook the back of Nick Chadwick's head for the ball with the result that both players were rushed to the dressing-rooms by their respective physios for repair work to bleeding wounds.

Chadwick re-emerged first, in numberless shirt and looking like the Mummy's favourite son, and soon showed no ill-effects from his cut and paste job by firing in a shot, following another Capaldi throw, that was blocked.

Wood, too, returned, looking like the Mummy's favourite son's other son, and the rematched 11 against 11 again engaged in their cagey cat and mouse game.

In time added of at the end of the first period, Eagles embarked on a mazy run that took him past several markers and into the Argyle penalty area before he ran into a dead end.

That would have neatly encapsulated the story of the half, had not it sprung unexpectedly to life as Anthony Barness extended Wednesday goalkeeper Nick Weaver with a low shot that was palmed away and Buzsaky trumped Eagles' move with one of his own that saw a shot whistle past beaten Weaver's right-hand post.

Wednesday had not had a single shot on goal in the first 45 minutes and that sorry statistic continued in the opening stages of the second despite another defence-scattering run from Eagles, after which he teed up Brunt for a shot that had Larrieu scrambling, but not forced into saving.

Argyle responded with snap-shots from Paul Wotton and Buzsaky that went wide, before another half-chance fell to the Hungarian after Chadwick, headache nothwithstanding, played him in from Capaldi's cross.

Sturrock changed his entire attack on the hour, replacing Lee and Aston Villa loan man Agbonlohar with Graham and Barry Corr, but they provided no real impetus or threat to the Argyle defence's serenity.

Indeed, Wednesday's first shot that actually asked anything of Larrieu came from a long-range free-kick by Brunt that the French goalkeeper got down to well - as he had to, having elected to face the shot without anything resembling a defensive wall.

As Corr began to assert himself, Larrieu proved Argyle's saviour a few minutes later when he denied substitute Richie Partridge from point-blank range, spreading himself to deflect the first-time shot, which followed a left-wing cross, away with his feet.

Pulis bought time by the late introduction of Bojan Djordjic and Keith Lasley and leaving Michael Evans on his own up front, in another tactic not unfamiliar to the inhabitants of the opposition dug-out.

He nearly got more value for money when Lasley, with his first touch, blazed away in front of the Argyle fans at the Leppings Lane end, only for the ball to go narrowly over Weaver's bar.

Sheffield Wednesday (4-4-2): 22 Nick Weaver; 20 Frank Simek, 17 Drissa Diallo, 16 Richard Wood, 3 Paul Heckingbottom; 19 Chris Eagles (18 Richie Partridge 75), 8 Burton O'Brien, 6 Glen Whelan, 11 Chris Brunt; 28 Gabriel Agbonlahor (30 David Graham 60), 4 Graeme Lee (26 Barry Corr 60). Substitutes (not used): 23 Craig Rocastle, 21 Chris Adamson (gk).

Argyle (4-4-2): 1 Romain Larrieu; 22 Paul Connolly (21 Elliott Ward 90), 13 Mathias Kouo-Doumbe, 16 Hasney Aljofree, 2 Anthony Barness; 8 Akos Buzsaky (6 Keith Lasley 84), 7 David Norris, 15 Paul Wotton, 14 Tony Capaldi; 9 Michael Evans, 11 Nick Chadwick (32 Bojan Djordjic 84). Substitutes (not used): 19 Matt Derbyshire, 23 Luke McCormick (gk).

Booked: Wotton 72.

Referee: Colin Webster (Tyne and Wear).

Attendance: 20,224 (350 away est.).