A-League: Gold Coast 0 Sydney FC 0

Gold Coast United broke their run of five successive A-League defeats with a dour 0-0 draw against Sydney FC at Skilled Park on Sunday.

Neither side reached any great heights but referee Ben Williams was kept busy, dishing out nine yellow cards – seven of which went to Sydney – in what was at times a spiteful affair.

While the hosts will be happy to have escaped with their first point since October, Sydney were on the back foot for most of the match and failed to carry on the momentum built when they ended Brisbane’s record undefeated streak last weekend.

They could have jumped as high as second place with a win but instead remain in fourth position, while Gold Coast are still four points behind their nearest rivals Adelaide at the foot of the table.

Played mere minutes after a heavy storm bucketed monsoon-like rain across south-east Queensland, both sides were presented with a greasy deck – and it showed.

On balance, Gold Coast had the better opportunities in what was a cagey first half but poor finishing kept them from edging ahead.

The chance of the half fell to Maceo Rigters, who was played in by Ben Halloran in the 42nd minute but dragged his shot from inside the box horribly wide of the target.

The action finally heated up for the visitors six minutes into the second half, when Karol Kisel forced a quality reflex save from goalkeeper Glen Moss with his thumping first-time shot from the edge of the area after a clever cutback from Dimi Petratos.

An unmarked Kisel had another golden chance in the 65th minute, but failed to hit the target with his free header from the six yard box after he was found by a Shannon Cole cross.

United substitute Chris Harold came on a minute later for Dylan Macallister and had an almost immediate impact, dodging a challenge from Pascal Bosschaart before cannoning his shot directly into Reddy.

Halloran was quick to jump onto the scraps but somehow his diving shot was blocked by Cole and the Sky Blues escaped unpunished.