Derby day dead-heat In dispute: Victory's Mitch Nichols gets to the ball first against Melbourne Heart on Saturday night. The A-League might have the world's longest off-season, giving coaches months to work on tactics, set up and shape. But that doesn't mean that players will necessarily gel when the action begins for real - or that the long break will herald a frenzy of action when they finally get a chance to show what they can do. Combinations that flourish in the lower-pressure surrounds of the training ground can unravel in the higher intensity environment of match day. With Melbourne Victory fielding four debutants in its starting 11 and Melbourne Heart giving five outfield players first appearances in red and white, there was always likely to be a staccato dynamic to this derby game. And so it proved as both sides probed and pushed to establish a rhythm, all the while conscious of the danger of giving their opponents a chance to strike what is so often a critical psychological advantage in games like this. The jagged tempo never really altered. Heart was well organised defensively, Victory couldn't get into a flow, space was at a premium, and chances few and far between. In the end a scoreless draw was a fair reflection of a relatively joyless encounter. Still, as in so many derby games, there were the essential elements that never change. Harry Kewell, who ended the first half with his head bandaged after copping a blow to his eye midway through, was booed by the Victory fans - those very same supporters who bought his shirt when he lined up in navy blue - every time he touched the ball. Such is the fate of any player who switches sides in any local derby in any league in any city in the world. Paddy Kisnorbo, a hard-nosed and uncompromising centre-back whom John Aloisi has brought in to stiffen Heart's rearguard, earned his first yellow card barely 10 minutes into his first club game back in his homeland in more than a decade. Victory's troika of twinkle-toed attackers - debutants James Troisi and Mitch Nichols and the teenager Conor Pain - teased and twisted as they looked to find openings down the Heart right by exploiting newly minted full-back Jason Hoffman's lack of experience in the role. Aside from one moment when Pain galloped clear the lanky Hoffman did reasonably well in his new guise. Anyone expecting a blood and thunder opening would have been disappointed as both sides sought to play out from the back and retain possession. Kewell, playing in the space behind front man Golgol Mebrahtu, was the fulcrum for his side, his touch and ability to see a pass still evident despite his lack of play in the past 18 months. His great friend and contemporary, Archie Thompson, was fired up before this game, disappointed at being left out of the Socceroos squad for Saturday morning's match against France: given the events in Paris the Victory striker should probably count his blessings, although his quiet showing in this company did nothing to suggest that he would have had much of an impact there. It would be stretching things to say that there were many gilt-edged opportunities. Mate Dugandzic, back after a season out with injury, had one of his side's better opportunities in the first half following a run by David Williams, who squared the ball only for the winger to shoot wide. Victory fans would have cursed the fact that their best opportunity fell to centre-back Adrian Leijer when Heart failed to clear a corner, the ball dropping to the defender's feet only for goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne to block from close range. Mebrahtu, driving wide on the turn from Kewell's header, was the only other chance of note in the opening half. Victory had a good shout for a penalty turned down when the ball struck Kisnorbo from an Adama Traore shot early in the second half, while Kewell made way for another of Heart's new signings, Iain Ramsay, with just over 20 minutes remaining in the match. Thompson stayed out there a little longer before going off with cramp, but the best he could manage was to flash a 79th-minute header wide. It was as good a snapshot of this game as anything that went before it.