(NASL 2017 Spring) New York Cosmos 0v0 San Francisco Deltas

Saturday 27th May 2017
MCU Park, New York   Attendance -  5,421

A lack of a cutting edge was again evident as New York again failed to win at home, drawing 0v0 with the Deltas.

It was a fairly forgettable start to the half with the slow build up from the Cosmos too easy to defend against, particularly with a poor final ball from the home side. To be fair the visitors hardly threatened in the first quarter of the game, even with regular keeper Maurer missing through injury

The first opportunity fell to the home side after a more direct approach. A long ball was meant for Restrepo but some hesitant defending from the Deltas saw a clearance blocked by Flores and thankfully for the visitors the ball rolled wide.

As the half wore on the action picked up and there was some good build up from the Cosmos on the edge of the Deltas box, but again the final pass was not good enough and was played behind Guerra who would have had a direct run on goal. Seconds later and the Deltas squandered a great chance when Jordan slipped the ball to Heinemann. The assistant referees flag stayed down but Deltas striker fluffed his lines as he shot weakly at Holt.

With 10 minutes remaining in the half Ledesma sent over a good deep cross and although it reached Restrepo at the far post it was always going to be a tough ask to direct the volley on target. 5 minutes later and Deltas had the ball in the net after Holt failed to deal with a free-kick lofted to the far post to an unmarked Reina, but the offside flag denied the visitors.

On the stroke of half time Ledesma was lucky to stay on the pitch after a 2 footed challenge as the half ended scoreless.

Marquez came closest to breaking the deadlock less than 5 minutes into the 2nd half as a close range header bounced off the top of the Deltas crossbar with Peiser well beaten. Seconds later and Cosmos again came close as a good ball released Restrepo down the left wing and his cut back found Ledesma who should have done better than find the side netting.

The early momentum was broken up by a series of fouls and injuries as the game looked headed for a 0v0 draw. Restrepo had a sight of goal late on but took to long to pull the trigger and was eventually dispossessed. At the death San Francisco almost stole it as the ball fell to an unmarked Teijsse, but the defender blazed well over.