Melbourne Victory have stretched their unbeaten streak to four, notching a third straight 0-0 result, this time against Newcastle at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
Melbourne Victory have stretched their unbeaten streak to four, notching a third straight 0-0 result, this time against Newcastle at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
It was a match of a nature which belied the scoreline, with both sides having plenty of chances to break to the deadlock in an entertaining, end-to-end affair.
Newcastle midfielder Ruben Zadkovich hit the bar in the first half before Victory peppered the goal in the second 45 but were unable to find their first score in over 270 minutes, their longest stretch without a goal since season one.
The result moved Melbourne to 11 points and fifth on the table, ahead of Perth on goal difference, but behind Wellington, while the Jets jump into ninth ahead of North Queensland.
Ernie Merrick brought both Robbie Kruse and Marvin Angulo into his starting 11 at the expense of Evan Berger and the injured Grant Brebner is a sign of his attacking intent.
But it was Newcastle who fired first when Zadkovich struck a fierce 30m volley into the underside of the bar on 11 minutes. The ball bounced away to safety, much to the relief of the Victory defence.
There were 14 shots in the opening 20 minutes of an incredibly open contest with Melbourne providing eight of them, but none of which particularly troubled Ben Kennedy in Newcastle’s goal.
Kruse was showing no ill effects of his recent calf strain and several times created openings that weren’t put away, while Tom Pondeljak’s 28th minute shot went straight at the keeper and Marvin Angulo’s efforts from range couldn-t find a way through.
Six minutes into the second half, Ricardinho created an excellent chance, feeding Robbie Kruse, who put in a cross which Carlos Hernandez somehow managed to miscue wide of the mark.
It was a similar story 16 minutes later when Kruse set up last year’s Johnny Warren Medallist again, but Hernandez made a complete mess of the finish and didn-t even test Kennedy out from close range.
In between, Newcastle created several chances through fluid ball movement, but the Melbourne central defensive pairing on Adrian Leijer and Rody Vargas, unbeaten in four matches, kept them out along with a busy Michael Petkovic.
It was a similar matter up the other end where former Victory defender Ljubo Milicevic was doing a great job for the home side.
The best chance for the Jets to secure the win fell to Ali Abbas who hit his shot wide, while Melbourne had a late opportunity to claim all three points through substitute Geoff Kellaway.
Kellaway used his tremendous pace to work himself some room and his angled shot beat Kennedy but it rolled agonisingly wide of the right-hand post.
Newcastle Jets 0
Melbourne Victory 0
At EnergyAustralia Stadium
