Central Coast Mariners and visitors Queensland Roar to be satisfied with a point apiece following the two teams' drab 1-1 draw at Bluetongue Stadium on Saturday evening.
After a reasonably bright start neither side showed enough enterprise to deserve anything more than a stalemate and so uninspired were the players that when the crowd began to boor a Roar player in stoppage time for dwelling too long on the ball in defence, though no Mariners' player seemed too bothered either, Queensland's Luke DeVere was booked.
The booing appeared to be a voice in unison against two teams lacking any real will to win at the finish and preferring to hold on for the point.
Central Coast might have been in front after only six minutes when Adrian Caceres, one of a trio of attackers, benefited from a break-away move following a Queensland corner at the other end; but with a clear sight on goal he aimed for Liam Reddy's near post and the Roar keeper was able to push the ball away for a corner.
Four minutes later Roar made the most of a free kick conceded 35 yards out from the Mariners' goal, slightly the right of centre, directly in front.
With Danny Tiatto and Charlie Miller standing over the ball it was shoved sideways for Serginho van Dijk to have a crack at.
The extra angle enabled the Dutchman to beat Danny Vukovic all ends up with a whistling drive that landed in the bottom left corner of the net.
It was far too powerful a strike for any keeper to stop, especially when defenders placed in front of him were then blocking his sight after the ball was moved sideways.
It was van Dijk's third goal for the club, his only previous ones coming from the penalty mark.
The rest of the first half was uneventful with Central Coast in second gear and the Roar reduced to a whimper
The only sign of life was in the 39th minute when, from John Hutchinson's through pass, Caceres drove wide but without conviction.
Caceres made a strong run two minutes after the break trying to set up Dylan Macallister but Reddy was sharply off his line to claim the ball just in time.
Massimo Murdocca should probably have extended the visitors' lead in the 70th when one on one after another fast break but the winger did not have the striker's instincts for goal and was transparently looking for someone to pass to.
He found nobody close by and the ball went adrift when a shot from his position must have been better than 50/50 of beating Vukovic.
There was another Roar chance four minutes later following a corner on the left but van Dijk's header cleared the bar.
A minute later Saso Petrovski headed over for the Mariners at the other end.
Central Coast substitute, Nik Mrdja's, header was too weak to trouble Reddy in the 77th and it was left to another substitute, Andre Gumprecht, the most popular player in the squad these days, to steal a point.
A corner on the left from Brad Porter was cleared away to well outside the box but the German was waiting patiently.
He unleashed a van Dijk-like drive that saw the ball fly past Reddy and just inside the left hand upright.
In stoppage time John Hutchinson let go with a left footer that flashed narrowly wide of the right post after good early work by Mrdja
Defences were on top in the match with Craig Moore impeccable with his reading of the game and with his tackling. Pedj Bojic and Alex Wilkinson both did well in the centre of the Mariners' defence.
The two coaches both felt let down but for different reasons
Roar coach, Frank Farina, lamented the loss of two additional points as, quote, ".. players had a job to do, defending set pieces but they did not listen to me they listened to someone else ..", without naming names.
He was also scathing of Murdocca's lack of conviction to take a shot when through on goal in the second half.
Central Coast coach, Lawrie McKinna, was not happy that his team took 50 minutes to find themselves and while it showed fighting qualities to come from a goal down they really must play well for the whole game.
"At the finish up, we dominated the second half and it was great to get a point, but we really should have won the game," McKinna said after the match.
"It’s great coming back from a goal down and it shows a lot about the character of our team but we should have done more than what we did in the first half, but the second half was great."