Wellington Phoenix and Central Coast Mariners played out a sterile goalless draw in their Hyundai A-League encounter at Wellington Regional Stadium on September 27, with just 6,769 fans turning out to mark the occasion of the fiftieth A-League fixture played by the league's draw specialists.
The opening twenty-five minutes of this encounter were mind-numbingly boring, with what little creative play produced being stifled by dominant defences at both ends of the park.
The only opportunities which materialised in this spell saw Central Coast's Nicky Travis being denied a goal by the offside flag in the tenth minute, before he fired a free-kick straight at Mark Paston six minutes later.
Wellington's goalkeeper then had to race out of goal to thwart the charging figure of Nigel Boogaard in the 25th minute, after which the home team, specifically through Paul Ifill, decided it was time to stop shadow-boxing and get on with their prime task of entertaining the masses.
The Barbados international was picked out by Tim Brown in the 27th minute, and after beating a defender, brought the best out of Danny Vukovic with a stinging twenty yard drive which the 'keeper gratefully beat to safety.
Three minutes later, Vince Lia played Leo Bertos in on the left, and his deflected twenty yarder resulted in a corner which the shooter fired into the goalmouth. Central Coast failed to clear it adequately, allowing Ifill the chance to shoot once more. But again, Vukovic was equal to the challenge.
Nine minutes prior to half-time, an enterprising run from Lia saw him evade two challenges before falling foul of a third. But the midfielder quickly picked up the pieces and played the ball across to Ifill, who stole in behind the defence to put himself in with a great chance of opening the scoring.
But the striker appeared to be caught in two minds - to shoot or to cross. He opted for the latter approach, when the former would almost certainly have brought dividends, particularly with Chris Greenacre closing in for any rebounds.
A vital challenge by Andrew Durante denied Dylan Macallister three minutes later, as John Hutchinson looked to pick out the striker with a cross, while the last action of note in the first half saw a wayward Michael McGlinchey pass put Greenacre in on the right, only for the striker to snatch at the shot and fire well wide of the target.
The visitors were much the better team throughout the majority of the second spell, although it was a former Mariner, Adrian Caceres, who kick-started the half into life with a surging run from half-way to the edge of the penalty area for his new club. Greenacre was the beneficiary of his new team-mate's efforts, but Alex Wilkinson stepped in to thwart the striker in timely fashion.
The visitor?s captain, having stopped a potential goal at one end, should have scored one himself in the 52nd minute, when Hutchinson?s free-kick found him unmarked in the Wellington penalty area. Paston was decidedly grateful that Wilkinson merely directed his unchallenged header straight at the 'keeper.
This spurred the Mariners to greater heights, literally in the case of Dean Heffernan?s rising drive after Travis, McGlinchey and Hutchinson had combined in the 54th minute.
Two minutes later, a right royal mix-up between Caceres and Ben Sigmund was pounced on by Macallister, but the combined efforts of Durante and the recovering Caceres thwarted the striker as he bore down on goal.
Back came Wellington, young substitute Costa Barbarouses? first touch sending Bertos storming down the left. His delicately flighted cross was an invitation to score, and Brown, racing through from midfield, had timed his run perfectly to meet it. But Greenacre, unaware of his team-mate?s presence and intentions, rose high to direct a header wide of the target at full stretch - a great chance spurned.
Central Coast resumed their dominance, with McGlinchey, Hutchinson and Heffernan combining on the left, the fullback?s cross arcing just beyond the hard-working Matt Simon. Tony Lochhead cleared the ball to the edge of his penalty area, where Travis was lurking to set up a twenty-five yarder from McGlinchey which deflected to safety.
The visitors were all over Wellington like a rash during this period, but Macallister somewhat blotted his copybook in the 65th minute with a blatant attempt to earn a penalty by diving over Paston.
Referee Mike Hester, who had a mixed bag of a display, rightly brandished the yellow card to the striker, affording Macallister the contempt such gamesmanship deserves.
It's a wonder Wellington's Yellow Fever fans didn't launch into a chorus of "You're not fit to wear the shirt"! Instead, they contented themselves with the less imaginative "He fell over, he fell over!" Methinks their song sheets could do with a significant revamp - much like the playing style of the team they support, come to think of it" !
Falling over was something Paston had to do a few times in the next few minutes, but with far more purpose than Macallister could hope to muster, as the goalkeeper's dives kept his team in the contest.
In the 67th minute, he denied Boogaard at point-blank range after Travis and Simon worked an opening inside the Wellington penalty area. Five minutes later, the 'keeper turned away a Pedj Bojic free-kick, then produced another timely save to thwart Travis from the resulting scramble.
Amidst the 'keeper's antics, Ifill, who struggled throughout with a hamstring injury yet was still Wellington's most effective outfield player, set off on a mazy run through the heart of Central Coast's defence which took him deep into the penalty area.
Only the presence of Vukovic prevented him from turning the ball home, but the striker retained possession in order to whip in a cross to the near post for Greenacre. The goalkeeper joined forces with Wilkinson to prevent the striker from breaking the deadlock.
A flurry of substitutions followed which broke up the game's momentum, one of which saw Wellington hand a debut to promising youngster Marco Rojas. It was two of his older colleagues who threatened to turn the game the home team's way in the 78th minute, however, Bertos' free-kick picking out Lia, whose header flashed across the face of goal.
Despite plenty of perspiration, the lack of genuine inspiration from both sides continued throughout the remaining minutes, until a stoppage time ball forward from Hutchinson released Macallister through the offside trap.
Paston raced out of goal and cleared the ball against the striker, off whom the ball ricocheted for a goal-kick which was never taken, the final whistle ensuring proceedings concluded as they had commenced, with the scoreboard reading 0-0.