Bitter rivalry continues, as Wolves held by 10-man Sydney United

Wollongong had the advantage after Chris Payne was sent off in the first half, the latest chapter of a spiteful rivalry which includes Sydney United knocking the Wolves out of the finals in recent times.

But they could not capitalise on the situation, the contest opening up to allow a number of clear-cut opportunities at each end, only to finish in a 0-0 draw anyway.

"I don't think we did enough," Wilkshire said.

"It can be hard when you play against 10 men, but we knew exactly how they were going to play in the second half and didn't adjust.

"I told them we had to be disciplined and make sure we didn't get drawn into the afters they wanted to draw us into.

"But to be among the top teams you have to take your chances and be clinical and we didn't do that."

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Forward Lachlan Scott was denied a goal in the first half after the offside flag was raised. From there, the game became an open affair, with goalkeeper Hayden Durose called on to make a number of key saves in the second half.

In the end, the Wolves had nine shots on target, to United's six, while the referee delivered four yellow cards to Wollongong as well as Payne's red for United.

However, Wolves have precious little time to waste before returning to Sydney to meet Olympic in a catch-up game at Belmore Sportsground on Wednesday evening.