Perth Glory have held the rampaging Central Coast Mariners to a 0-0 draw at Bluetongue Stadium tonight. Central Coast Mariners: 0 Perth Glory: 0 Venue: Bluetongue Stadium Crowd: 7,857
Both sides begun in a cagey fashion, not giving much away and creating very few chances between them in the opening quarter of an hour.
Just prior to the 20-minute mark, Perth's Mile Sterjovski broke to the left, received the ball from midfield and whipped in a cross to Victor Sikora but the Dutchman couldn't keep his shot down in what was a let off for the Mariners.
The home side thought they had hit the front in the 25th minute when Adam Kawsnik flicked the ball over Tando Velaphi with a brilliant volley but the linesman had called him offside.
Glory's marquee man Sterjovski almost made something out of nothing in the final minutes of the first half but his swerving snapshot from outside the area cannoned into the post after it had beaten Mariners shot-stopper Danny Vukovic all ends up.
In the first decent play of the second half, Central Coast's Nik Mrdja was in when Kwasnik played the ball forward but he took his run easy in the dying stages and his contact with the ball was made minimal by an advancing Velaphi.
Minutes later, Glory midfielder Adriano Pellegrino was lurking at the back post when a floating ball from Sterjovski came into the area but his header was barred again by Vukovic who was on hand to keep his side in the game.
With over 25 minutes left, Vukovic was on hand again when Branko Jelic found Sikora in space deep in the area but the former Young Socceroos shot-stopper was able to flick a foot out and save his side once more.
The match was petering out into a non-affair until the Mariners begun to push forward late in the piece and substitute Matt Simon found himself free at the back post but his header, from a McGlinchey cross, went wide.
Neither side were able to find the ascendency and the Bluetongue Stadium crowd had to settle for a draw which put the Mariners momentarily into third whilst the Glory skipped one point further ahead of 6th placed Wellington.
