Box Hill United and Sandringham Soccer Club played out a scoreless stalemate on Friday night at Wembley Park.
In a contest with little on the line, due to both clubs all but confirmed out of the finals, neither could breach their opponents’ defences to break the deadlock in a fairly even contest.
Momentum ebbed and flowed in the opening 15 minutes as both sides exchanged set-pieces, but clear cut chances were hard to come by.
The visitors edged the contest thereafter, fashioning a few sighters on goal.
Lucy Kapusta was the first to give the hosts a scare from an Annabelle Gibney corner, but her effort was cleared away.
Emma Runnalls then had the best opportunity to score the go-ahead goal, played through by a perfectly weighted ball from Emma Robers, but her shot flew over the bar.
In a nice combination move a few minutes later, Runnalls did well to trap the ball by the byline, passing to Kapusta on overlap, with Kristie Shearing pouncing on a partial clearance to hit a tame effort wide.
Box Hill’s backline remained resilient, with the likes of Penny Bakopolous and Sarah Walsh sweeping up most of the danger, and Melissa Barbieri vocally directing her troops from the back.
It led to a few chances on the counter, starting with a piercing through ball from Walsh that Alex Amore latched onto, winning a corner that was eventually booted away.
The hosts’ best chance to score came shortly before the break when Cristina Cardaci slipped Elaina Vatcky through on goal, but she missed wide from an angle.
After the break Sandringham continued to fashion a few chances on goal, most of which were dealt with relatively easily.
A good piece of combination play through the middle involving Hannah Stewart, Steph Tanti and Runnalls ended with the former having an effort scuppered by her opponents.
Despite Sandringham’s slight ascendancy, United were just inches away from taking the lead at the other end, when Georgia Koutrouvelis teed up Madelaine Richardson for a piledriver from distance that beat Nikki Cook and cannoned back into play off the post.
Neither side could ram home any advantage, with Sandringham unable to find the killer final ball in attack, while Box Hill were pacy up front but also lacked the cutting edge, struggling to get anything past the solid defensive pairing of Sienna Fogarty and Steph Parton.
Runnalls had a final moment to snatch the three points late in the game, but her powerful header from a corner was bundled away.
In the end, neither side could be separated in a hard fought clash that was perhaps one for the football purists.
Box Hill United 0 drew with Sandringham Soccer Club 0 at Wembley Park [HT: 0-0]
Box Hill United: 11. Melissa BARBIERI (GK), 13. Alexandra AMORE, 32. Penny BAKOPOULOS, 21. Cristina CARDACI, 19. Selena KARLSON, 14. Georgia KOUTROUVELIS, 3. Elise KYRGIOS, 4. Madelaine RICHARDSON, 9. Elaina VATCKY, 5. Sarah WALSH, 2. Renee ZAIRIS
Subs: 25. Mellanie CAMILLERI, 12. Stephanie HEYSEN, 18. Annie REMMAN, 75. Hayley GEURTS, 10. Rachel TOOSE
Yellow Card: Bakopoulos 78′
Sandringham SC: 21. Nikki COOK (GK), 4. Emma ROBERS, 6. Steph PARTON, 10. Steph TANTI, 9. Emma RUNNALLS, 11. Lucy KAPUSTA, 18. Sienna FOGARTY, 19. Annabelle GIBNEY, 20. Hannah STUART, 30. Emma GUNN, 7. Kristie SHEARING
Subs: 12. Eliza GLEADELL, 28. Emily MORRIS-KRAUSE, 5. Jamie Brown, 1. Ingrid PHILIPPE, 8. Nicola WESTWOOD