Brett Emerton missed a penalty on his A-League debut as Sydney FC drew 0-0 with Melbourne Victory at Etihad Stadium.
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Former Blackburn midfielder Emerton and Melbourne's Harry Kewell were the main attractions on show as the new Australian domestic season got under way, and Emerton had the chance to make an immediate impact after 33 minutes when Victory full-back Fabio was penalised for a foul on Mark Bridge in the box.
However, goalkeeper Ante Covic pulled off a good save down to his left to deny Emerton from the spot.
Covic had produced a fine stop to deny Bridge three minutes earlier and was again at full stretch in the 36th minute to push the striker's effort around the post.
Kewell came close to marking his debut with a goal on the stroke of half-time but Sydney keeper Liam Reddy produced a fingertip save to keep out his header.
Bridge then saw red with 15 minutes to go after clashing with Rodrigo Vargas and Reddy denied Danny Allsopp five minutes later as the game ended in a stalemate.
Elsewhere, Byun Sung-Hwan's stoppage-time strike snatched a 3-2 victory for Newcastle Jets over Melbourne Heart at Ausgrid Stadium.
The visitors took the lead after 24 minutes when Mate Dugandzic converted Jason Hoffman's cross at the back post but Ryan Griffiths' free-kick levelled matters seven minutes later.
Griffiths then gave Jets the lead in first-half stoppage time when he converted Ali Abbas' pass but Melbourne equalised five minutes in to the second period through Dugandzic's second goal.
With the game seemingly heading for a draw, Byun's shot from distance in injury time took a deflection and ended up in the back of the net to give Newcastle three welcome points.
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