Adelaide United and Sydney FC remain unbeaten yet frustrated in the A-League after a scoreless night of near-misses.

Both clubs blew gilt-edged scoring chances in the 0-0 draw on Friday night before a bumper 16,015 crowd at Adelaide’s Coopers Stadium.

The Reds, who lost form striker Bruce Djite at halftime to a thigh injury, are undefeated in 12 matches on their home patch.

But United butchered several scoring chances on a steamy night when temperatures hovered around 34 degrees and Sydney FC’s acting captain Nikola Petkovic found the net.

Petkovic struck a sweet 35m left-footed free-kick in the 68th minute which beat Adelaide custodian Eugene Galekovic – but the referee had yet to blow his whistle to restart play.

The non-score came against the flow as the Reds produced a succession of chances but were unable to find the knockout blow.

Spaniard Sergio Cirio had the best of them in a first half in which the Reds had 11 shots at goal to Sydney’s two.

Cirio blew a golden opportunity in the 41st minute when, five metres out and just the ‘keeper to beat, his radar malfunctioned and he sprayed a left-footer wide.

His teammate Awer Mabil then became a repeat offender – the speedster couldn’t score from three genuine chances.

Mabil initially launched high and wide from 15 metres in injury time of the first half.

Four minutes into the second, Mabil was in another scoring slot when Marcelo Carrusca arrowed a cross which the winger, two metres from goal, found too hot to handle.

Some 10 minutes later, after a slicing dash through midfield, Mabil nailed a 20m shot but was denied by a super save from goalkeeper Vedran Janjetkovic, diving low to his right.

Mabil’s moment came a minute after Reds defender Nigel Boogard produced the most timely of efforts to thwart the Sky Blues’ Seb Ryall.

The Sydneysider cracked a close-range header which was headed for the net, only for Boogard to intercept with a diving header and knock to safety.

In a frantic finish, Adelaide thought they had the winner in injury time when Carrusca, among the most-gifted players in the league, closed on goal but somehow managed to miss the ball when just metres out.

AAP