Melbourne Heart and Newcastle Jets played out an uninspiring 0-0 draw at Epping Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Ross Archibald struck the crossbar late in the first half, while Radovan Pavicevic came close for the Jets after his effort was barely stopped on the line by Tando Velaphi.
In what was a slow start to the contest, Newcastle were the first to register an attempt on goal when Mitchell Oxborrow pounced on a poor pass by Retre, but his 25-yard effort was weak and easily claimed by Velaphi.
The game struggled to find any sort of rhythm, with both sides locked in a battle to get the ball out of the midfield.
Golgol Mebrahtu tried his best to spark some life into the game with an effort from a tight angle, but Ben Kennedy was well positioned and beat the ball behind for a corner.
Heart were looking the more likely side to create any sort of opening, and had the best passage of play in the 36th minute.
Paulo Retre did well to skip past a midfielder before laying a perfectly weighted through ball for Mebrahtu, who cut the ball back to an on-coming Marcus Schroen.
Unfortunately for the home side he skied his effort over the bar, wasting a golden chance to break the deadlock.
Three minutes later Jonatan Germano rifled a shot towards the top corner but Kennedy was well up to the task and tipped it round the post.
Heart then had more chances to take the lead before the break, with Archibald first skying a shot over the bar from a goalmouth scramble , then cracking a header onto the crossbar from a corner.
Having survived the scare, the Jets came out strong after the break and almost took the lead early on when Oxborrow forced Velaphi into a diving save, before the ball rebounded to Pavicevic.
While he seemed likely to score, Velaphi managed to get himself back up to save the shot just before it crossed the line.
They had to wait until the 68th minute before their next opportunity, which came from a long pass from Ben Kennedy.
The keeper was put under pressure by Luke O’Dea but managed to pick out the run by Matthew Bilic behind the Heart defence.
Unfortunately for the visitors, Bilic flashed his shot just wide of the far post, giving Heart a reprieve.
The home side then had a chance of their own in the 75th minute when Mebrahtu set up substitute Alexander Dao, who rifled a shot that just missed the post.
Some smart work from Luke O’Dea five minutes later almost brought about a late goal, but Retre squandered the created chance by shooting straight at a defender, before Mebrahtu smashed the rebound at Kennedy.
Heart had one final chance in the 90th minute when Stipo Andrijasevic was presented with a free header inside the box, but he placed it straight into Kennedy’s grasp and let the opportunity slip.
Team Lineups:
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Substitutes:
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Substitutions:
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