Red Bulls, Toronto FC Finish In Scoreless Draw
TORONTO (AP) — Toronto FC and the New York Red Bulls finished in a 0-0 tie Saturday.
Toronto pressed in the second half, but was unable to score. Joe Bendik had a quiet second half in the Toronto goal.
With top strikers Danny Koevermans and Robert Earnshaw out injured, Toronto started Jeremy Brockie and Justin Braun up front.
Toronto (2-10-8) has been shut out in its past three road games, a goalless drought that has reached 319 minutes.
And Toronto has been blanked in eight of its past 12 outings home or away, with just seven goals during that run.
New York (9-7-5) managed just one shot on target in the first half — a low shot by Thierry Henry that was stopped by Bendik.
New York coach Mike Petke was not happy with his team's performance.
"Not impressive, not impressive at all," he said. "Toronto had the right mentality, we didn't.
"We play this game on paper we win this game. But this game is not played on paper, this game is played with heart, effort, logic and Toronto had all of those categories today, so in a way I feel fortunate we got a point."
Both teams had early goals called off because of offside: first Brockie's tap-in in the 13th minute and then Tim Cahill's header. Toronto's non-goal came courtesy of a nice cross from Ashtone Morgan.
Toronto had several chances in the first half, but failed to produce a quality chance.
"We're slightly disappointed not to win the game, obviously," Toronto captain Steven Caldwell said. "We felt we were the better team. Without creating lots of great chances, we felt we had the one or two that we could have took and we kept their chances to a minimum.
"They had a little flurry at the end but we held strong."
Toronto had a shot on target in the second half, but New York goalkeeper Luis Robles handled Bobby Convey's free kick.
Toronto's best chance came minutes later after Matias Laba, taking advantage of a Red Bulls turnover, dribbled into the New York penalty box. He twisted and turned, eventually finding Jonathan Osorio, who could not get a shot off in traffic.
The Red Bulls goalie had to be sharp in the 74th minute, twisting in the air to claw the ball away after a deflected chance from Richard Eckersley.
"It was a great save," Petke said. "He made a couple of key saves, especially that one. The reaction save was great."
Toronto, which last won a league game at BMO Field on July 18, 2012, came into the game winless in its past five games.
Toronto did earn a home victory earlier this season over Sporting Kansas City, but it came indoors at Rogers Centre.
The Red Bulls were riding an eight-game undefeated streak (6-0-2) against Toronto FC dating back to June 24, 2009.
New York, which had a 2-2 draw with France's Olympique Lyonnais in a friendly Tuesday, was coming off a 4-0 home league win over the Montreal Impact.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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