OTTAWA – The road to the 2018 USL Cup Playoffs for Indy Eleven hasn’t always been marked by victories, but in the club’s 0-0 draw against Ottawa Fury FC on Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 5,393 fans at TD Place the Eleven earned a point that should prove valuable as the club progresses toward the postseason.

And yet, it was also a game where the visitors could have claimed all three points if not for near-misses that summed up the game overall. Soony Saad twice hit the woodwork in the second half – the first time he had done so this season according to Opta – in a display that saw the visitors bring plenty of attacking initiative.

“It was a game where we played well,” said Indy Head Coach Martin Rennie. “We possessed the ball well and dominated long spells of the game. We created some good chances; We hit the woodwork three times. We just didn’t get the goal. … Overall, it was a good point. It keeps us on a good run.”

“The league’s very tight,” said Rennie. “You spend a lot of time watching the table and it’s probably not going to really help you that much.”

Ottawa had arguably the two biggest chances to break the deadlock despite Indy holding a sizeable edge in possession and a narrow edge in total shots. Tony Taylor was brilliantly stopped by Indy goalkeeper Owain Fôn Williams with 10 minutes to go in the first half on a point-blank header the Welsh shot-stopper just turned over the crossbar, while Steevan Dos Santos failed to convert from the penalty spot for the first time this season on the hour-mark, hitting the left post with his shot.

“We’re in a good position to catch the team’s above us,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of games in-hand; Bethlehem Steel are three games ahead of us and we have the same points, for example. It’s important that you keep focusing on what we’re doing, keep playing well, keep picking up points, keep picking up wins and we’ll keep rising up the table.”