Melbourne Victory have spurned a golden opportunity to close the gap on the A-League Men top two, held to a dour 0-0 draw by a disciplined Brisbane Roar.
Victory are now 10 games unbeaten but remain three points behind Western United and 11 behind Melbourne City after Tuesday's stalemate at AAMI Park.
Meanwhile, the Roar's faint finals hopes are all but extinguished, with Brisbane sitting eight points outside the top six with five games to play.
Ben Folami fired wide in the opening minute, then almost teed up a stretching Marco Rojas, who couldn't quite reach the winger's cross, four minutes later.
Victory had a series of shots blocked in the 17th minute but from there, Brisbane had the better of the rare chances in a dour first half.
Out of nowhere in the 23rd minute, Juan Lescano found some space, turned and shot, forcing Ivan Kelava into a good save.
In the 45th minute, the ball ricocheted around Brisbane's 18-yard area and fell to Scott Neville, who just shot wide.
Jason Davidson was busy all night and in the 65th minute, he burst down the left and worked the ball into the area, where it fell to an off-balance Nick D'Agostino, who shot straight at Jordan Holmes.
Nine minutes later, Rojas drove the ball towards Chris Ikonomidis, who headed wide.
In the 82nd minute, Jason Geria spared Victory's blushes when he made a terrific well-timed tackle to deny Luke Ivanovic.
Two minutes later, Neville turned a free header, from Jay O'Shea's corner, just wide.
In the 89th minute, there were concerns for Victory midfielder Jake Brimmer, who had to be substituted out after a friendly fire clash with Davidson, as the game petered out.
Victory next face Newcastle on Saturday while Brisbane play Macarthur on Friday.
