Wellington Phoenix have begun the Giancarlo Italiano era with a scoreless draw against Western Sydney Wanderers to begin their 2023/24 A-League campaign.
Goalkeeper Alex Paulsen starred with a series of saves that kept his team in the contest, especially in the opening half, when both sides had chances to break the deadlock.
Paulsen showed his agility in the seventh minute, when he left across goal to poke a rocket from Wanderers forward Nicolas Milanovic, head for the top-right corner, around the post.
He was called into action again after half an hour, when Milanovic's cross from the left found Marcus Antonsson, but his header to the bottom left corner was again parried away.
After halftime, Paulsen again rose high to deflect a curling from Jack Clisby, struck outside the penalty box.
Wellington had to withstand most of the scoring chances of the game, with Wanderers managing 16 shots on goal, four of them on target, compared to just five from the visitors. The Phoenix won just two corners, against their rivals' 16.
Former assistant Italiano, 40, has taken over the coaching reins from Ufuk Talay, who left the club in April. He stepped in as caretaker manager for two matches in March 2022, when Talay was struck down by COVID-19, guiding the team to wins over Perth Glory and Brisbane Roar.
"I'm happy taking the point," he said. "I would have loved to win the game.
"I think we had enough chances in the first 60 minutes to take the lead, but I think once I made the substitutes, the game went away a little bit. That's probably because we've had personnel changes and we lost that rhythm in the middle.
"Even the boys that came on defended stoutly and I felt didn't deserve to concede. Once we get our build-up right and our counter opportunities, we'll be more dangerous."
Their next chance will come next Saturday, when they host Perth for their first home fixture of the season.
Wellington Phoenix 0 Western Sydney Wanderers 0
