Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC fought out an absorbing scoreless A-League draw at Telstra Dome on Saturday night, which leaves both sides outside the top four but still within sight of the finals.

Both teams had periods of dominance, each hit the woodwork and defended desperately, while Sydney FC owed plenty to their goalkeeper Clint Bolton.

Bolton made three important saves - two inside a minute in the second half to keep his side in the contest.

The Socceroos keeper saved the only clear chance of the first half - pulling off a reflex save from Victory defender Steven Pace's header in the 36th minute.

But as a tense first 45 minutes unfolded into an action-packed second, Bolton was called into action as the Victory took early second half control.

First he tipped a Carlos Hernandez free-kick over the bar in the 55th minute, then denied Archie Thompson in a one-on-one a minute later.

Just as the heavily undermanned Victory seemed to be flexing their muscles, Sydney FC coach John Kosmina brought Brazilian midfielder Juninho into the game as a 70th minute substitute and the team lifted.

Their best two chances of the game fell soon after to striker Alex Brosque.

First Brosque hit the post with a long-range shot, then had his shot deflected on to the crossbar by Pace's desperate intervention.

The Victory nearly pinched the match in injury time, when Thompson and Adrian Caceres worked a neat move on the right, but the Socceroo striker shot wide.

Sydney FC remain in fifth place with 16 points, with the Victory just a point behind in sixth.

The Victory also have another suspension headache from Saturday night's match, with skipper Kevin Muscat picking up a fourth yellow card for the season and an automatic one-match ban.

After deputising at centre-back with a commanding performance, Muscat's suspension will leave his team another big hole to plug in defence for next week.

Melbourne were without their entire first-choice backline on Saturday night, but will regain defenders Steve Pantelidis from suspension and Sebastian Ryall from Young Socceroos duty.

They also have appeals pending this week against bans dished out to Rodrigo Vargas and Joe Keenan, while Daniel Piorkowski and Ljubo Milicevic are injured.

"I'm not sure what we'll do about it - I think there's a curse on our centre-backs," Victory coach Ernie Merrick said.

Sydney FC also lost midfielder Steve Corica to a groin injury after just 22 minutes, though Kosmina said his substitution was more precautionary than anything.

Kosmina's return to Telstra Dome - the scene of his previous club Adelaide United's grand final hammering last season - passed without any real incident.

He again was forced to watch the game from high in the stands because of a sideline suspension, but said he was pleased with how his side battled for their draw.

They are now unbeaten in three matches since Kosmina took over from the sacked Branko Culina.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP