The deadlock between York United and Atlético Ottawa continues as the clubs once again battled to a draw, this time 0-0, at TD Place Stadium tonight. It is now the eighth time in nine meetings that these two sides have been tied after 90 minutes.

At home, Ottawa proved plenty to handle in the early part of the match, forcing a pair of free kicks just outside the York area. Neither of Ollie Bassett’s deliveries, however, nor his long distance shot on the second phase tested Niko Giantsopoulos in the York net.

The Ottawa press was a real issue for York in the early going, as another turnover minutes later forced defender Dominick Zator to make a heroic block on what looked to be a dangerous long distance effort from Zakaria Bahous.

Ottawa were the architects of their own issues in the 21st minute, however, as poor defensive freekick from Nate Ingham was hit straight at Osaze De Rosario. They were able to clear the resulting chaos, but invited a solid spell of attacking possession for the visitors.

York had a free kick of their own in the 28th minute as Abzi was brought down after slaloming his way through multiple Atleti defenders. Mateo Hernández hit the net with his effort, but it was an easy save for Ingham in the end.

Chances were few and far between for both sides the rest of the half, but a threatening York counter attack in the 37th minute nearly broke the deadlock, as the resulting Lisandro Cabrera volley was nearly redirected into the back of the net by Sebastián Gutiérrez.

Ottawa started the livelier of the sides in the second half, as they won a corner inside the first two minutes before Bahous fired a threatening long-range effort just wide.

The host also had a decent penalty shout mid-way through the half as Abzi looked to have handled the ball just in front of the end line and inside the York box. The referee’s decision, however, was a corner kick, and much like the many previous set pieces in the match this one was ineffective.

The set-plays did get a little more clever as the match went on, however, as some quick thinking from Gutiérrez on a free-kick in the 76th minute allowed him a long-range shot that Ingham was forced to parry away.

With York pressing, Ottawa were then forced to play a man down for the final 10 minutes as Drew Beckie picked up his second red card of the season after brining down De Rosario on the wing. It nearly cost the hosts immediately, as on the ensuing free kick, Ingham made a brilliant stop point blank on the York striker’s deflected effort.

Just like the scoreline, however, the match would end even on the field as Cédric Toussaint was shown a late red card. That pretty much ended York’s chances of finding a winner, as they would go scoreless for the fifth straight league match.

BOX SCORE

Goals

N/A

Discipline

10′ — Yellow: Diyaeddine Abzi (York United)

32′ — Yellow: Zakaria Bahous (Atlético Ottawa)

36′ — Yellow: Mateo Hernández (York United) 

57′ — Yellow: Drew Beckie (Atlético Ottawa)

81′ — Yellow+Red: Drew Beckie (Atlético Ottawa) 

90′ — Yellow: Brian Wright (Atlético Ottawa)

91′ — Red: Cedric Toussaint (York United) 

92′ — Yellow: Mouhamadou Kane (York United)