Melbourne Victory keep another clean sheet but fail to score yet again

Melbourne Victory may have kept four clean sheets in a row, but they cannot seem to score at the other end either.

They drew 0-0 away to the Newcastle Jets this evening before 8,652 fans. Children 15 years and under were allowed free entry.

Melbourne dominated the match and had many more shots at goal than the Jets, but they are badly missing a striker. It was their third game in a row without scoring and Archie Thompson is clearly missed.

Newcastle almost took the lead in the 8th minute when Ruben Zadkovich smashed a marvellous shot against the underside of the bar.

Melbourne hit back immediately and Billy Celeski had a shot deflected just wide by the toe of a team-mate.

In the 11th minute, Carlos Hernandez, who was guilty of some glaring misses during the match, shot wide of the target.

Newcastle keeper Ben Kennedy saved well from Marvin Angulo in the 14th minute as the visitors continued to dictate the play, and it was Angulo again who shot wide in the 21st minute.

Eight minutes after the interval, Hernandez blazed high and wide of the target after Robbie Kruse cut the ball back perfectly for him from the left.

The Jets suffered a scare in the 69th minute when Nikolai Topor-Stanley sliced a cross up in the air and Tom Pondeljak headed at goal. Kennedy decided to catch the ball rather than tip it over the bar and, despite having one leg over the line, he kept the ball in play.

Kennedy did well to foil Ricardinho in the 71st minute after a long goal-kick by Michael Petkovic and an error by Tarek Elrich had allowed the Brazilian a clear run at goal.

Two minutes from the end, Melbourne substitute Jeff Kellaway found a way down the left but placed his shot wide of the far post.

The draw left the Jets in 9th spot on the A-League ladder, while Melbourne Victory dropped to 5th place.