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Melbourne Victory have been held to a frustrating 0-0 draw by Brisbane Roar, spurning a chance to close the gap on the A-League Men top two.
Melbourne Victory have spurned a golden opportunity to close the gap on the A-League Men top two, held to a dour 0-0 draw by a disciplined Brisbane Roar.
Victory are now 10 games unbeaten but remain three points behind Western United and 11 behind Melbourne City after Tuesday's stalemate at AAMI Park.
Coach Tony Popovic didn't consider the draw a missed chance but noted his players had looked tired after a packed schedule.
"It probably was frustrating in some parts. We looked a bit tired today," he said.
"It's been a lot of games in a very short period, four games in a short period but I think we just needed to score first, in the first half.
"We had some good opportunities and moments in the box, just weren't really decisive enough to get the lead and then the longer it goes, Brisbane has something to hold on to and they defended well, they tried to play on the counterattack.
"It's another clean sheet but we just couldn't get the break through."
There were concerns for Jake Brimmer, who had to be substituted out after a friendly fire clash with Jason Davidson in the 89th minute and Popovic confirmed the midfielder was having concussion tests.
Meanwhile, the Roar's faint finals hopes are all but extinguished, with Brisbane sitting eight points outside the top six with five games to play.
Victory's Ben Folami fired wide in the opening minute, then almost teed up a stretching Marco Rojas four minutes later.
Victory had a series of shots blocked in the 17th minute but from there, Brisbane had the better of the rare first-half chances.
In the 23rd minute, Juan Lescano turned and forced Ivan Kelava into a good save, while Scott Neville shot wide just before half-time.
Victory lifted in intensity after the break and in the 65th minute an off-balance Nick D'Agostino shot straight at Jordan Holmes and nine minutes later, Chris Ikonomidis headed wide.
In the 82nd minute, Jason Geria made a terrific well-timed tackle to deny Luke Ivanovic.
Two minutes later, Neville turned a free header, from Jay O'Shea's corner, just wide.
"Overall we're happy but to be honest we came here to take all three (points), as unfancied as we may have been going into the game, knowing they've come off a great result," Roar coach Warren Moon said.
"But I'm realistic about the opposition we faced today and obviously they had control in moments of the game or good parts of it.
"But I don't think they bombarded our goal with many chances and we had some great chances of our own and probably could have snuck a winner in the end."
Victory next face Newcastle on Saturday while Brisbane play Macarthur on Friday, with Moon flagging multiple rotations.
