Bulgaria and Italy were forced to settle for a point apiece in their World Cup qualifier in Sofia on Saturday as neither side came close to breaking the deadlock in a tight game.
Bulgaria made a bright start and kept their opponents on the back foot for large periods of a very tight first half.
It was a different story in the second half, though, as the World Champions looked for the win which would have seen them take a considerable step towards qualifying for the 2010 World Cup after two wins from their opening two games.
But they had to settle for a draw which kept them at the summit of Group Eight, three points clear of the Republic of Ireland.
On the eve of the match, Bulgaria had vowed to play for a win and not a goalless draw -- but they were unable to stick to this promise.
They started brightly enough with Dimitar Berbatov and Martin Petrov both looking lively in attack.
The Manchester United striker had the first shot of the match in the 14th minute, but his acrobatic effort did not make it beyond Italy defender Fabio Cannavaro.
The remainder of the first half was very hard-fought, which played into the hands of the Azzurri, who had the combative Daniele De Rossi and Gennaro Gattuso bossing the midfield.
Not only were the defensive-midfield duo dominating the middle of the field, they were also, in the absence of any clear-cut chances for strikers Antonio Di Natale, Simone Pepe and Alberto Gilardino, the most dangerous players on the Italy team.
Gattuso's shot from distance was deflected wide of the post midway through the first half and De Rossi went close with several free-kicks in the second half.
Italy dominated the second 45 minutes as coach Marcello Lippi threw caution to the wind by introducing additional forwards Giuseppe Rossi and Luca Toni.
Rossi created arguably the best chance of the game in the 72nd minute when he put Gilardino through, but the Fiorentina forward was unable to provide the finish.
De Rossi's powerful shot just missed the crossbar with 10 minutes left, but there did not seem to be any way through for Italy.
Marco Amelia in their goal was tested only once by the Bulgarians two minutes from the end when Chavdar Yankov tried his luck from long range, but neither side was able to find the decisive goal as they had to settle for a point each.
On a negative note for Italy, a yellow card for Toni in stoppage time ruled him out of their next qualifying fixture against Montenegro in Lecce on Wednesday.
