Avondale Heights and Whittlesea Ranges played out an entertaining 0-0 draw at Avondale Heights Reserve on Saturday afternoon.

The visitors had the first chance of the match when Tomislav Trbuhovich saw his header just go over the goals.

Whittlesea then had another chance moments later when during a scramble in the box, the ball came to Daniel Peluso, who struck a low drive.

But the shot was saved by Avondale ‘keeper John Scollo.

It was the hosts though who had the best chance of the first period, when a great run into the box by Burakhan Kocad saw the midfielder deliver a lovely ball to the unmarked Arturo Ymeri at the back post.

But with the goal at his mercy, Ymeri could only send the ball over the net.

Just on the stroke of half-time, the visitors had a final chance when Adem Mustedanagic struck a powerful drive from outside the box.

But Scollo was on his feet and calmly palmed the shot away.

It was different Avondale in the second half, as the hosts completely controlled possession and created a host of winnable chances.

During a goalmouth scramble the ball bounced out to Oleksiy Khrapko, but his low drive smashed off the bottom of the post.

Minutes later, the woodwork would again deny the hosts, when Andrew Le Page collected a loose ball in the box and stuck a lovely volley, only to see it strike the crossbar.

Le Page had another chance to open the scoring, but his mistimed slide across the box saw him miss a squared ball after some great teamwork by Ymeri and Jason Principato.

It was then Khrapko’s turn to miss a chance, when the striker ran onto a Le Page free kick, but couldn’t control his header as it flew over the net.

The visitors then almost completed a smash-and-grab win, as Kliment Dimitrieski launched a powerful 25-yard free-kick with only ten minutes remaining.

But the excellent Scollo dove to palm it away.

Avondale kept pushing hard until the final whistle with Zoran Pajic’s header from a corner just whistling over the goal, but it proved to be the final chance of the game.

Avondale Heights coach Anthony Barbieri was pleased with his side’s response after a slow start, but rued its missed chances.

“In the balance, probably a game of two halves,” said Barbieri.

“First half I thought we were pretty poor. Second half we changed it around a little bit and created a lot of chances and we should have probably won the game.

“But we’ll take a draw.”

Whittlesea coach Vinko Buljubasic was happy with his team’s efforts in claiming a point against the league leaders.

“Away from home, it was a good point,” said Buljubasic.

“I thought we had the better opportunities in the first half and they slowly got back in the game and they pushed us at the end.

“We just needed to take our chances.”

MATCH DETAILS:

Avondale Heights 0 drew with 0 Whittlesea Ranges at Avondale Heights Reserve.

Avondale Heights: 20. John SCOLLO (GK), 33. Dean CAMPELJ (14. Daniel SLOVACEK 80’), 31. Michele CRAZIA, 15. Zoran PAJIC, 6. Anthony STRAND, 8. Bosin GEORGEVSKI (24. Resit CULCULOGLU 46’), 11. Arturo YMERI (37. Mitchel VASKJ 88’), 34. Oleksiy KHRAPKO, 10. Burakhan KOCA, 19. Jason PRINCIPATO, 7. Andrew LE PAGE

Unused Subs: 21. Ben SGRO, 22. Philip LLOYD

Yellow Cards: CRAZIA 31’, KOCA 82’

Red Card: Nil.

Whittlesea Ranges: 1. Gregory LASCARIS (GK), 6. Andrew TAYLOR, 23. Daniel SOTIROPOULOS, 18. Nicholas SARBIN, 15. John REALE, 13. Adem MUSTEDANAGIC, 10. Matthew IULIANO, 14. Daniel PELUSO, 9. Kliment DIMITRIESKI, 12. Tomislav TRBUHOVICH (25. Daniel GIOGHA 85'), 24 Rami MUSTAFOSKI.

Unused subs: 20. Chris STOJCEVSKI, 16 Mile RISTOV, 2. Dianoush RASOULZADEN- SEYSAN, 17. Girolamo COSTANZA, 20. Christopher STOJCEVSKI

Yellow cards: MUSTAFOSKI 44’, SOTIROPOULOS 69’, TAYLOR 86’, SARBIN 93’

Red cards: Nil