WHITTLESEA earned its second point in the Victorian Premier League (VPL), holding Sunshine George Cross to a scoreless draw on Sunday.

Sitting in second-last place on the table, the Zebras travelled to Chaplin Reserve with the task of restricting an in-form Sunshine outfit, which had taken seven points from its previous three encounters.

Zebras coach Ange Postecoglou was satisfied with the efforts of his team away from home.

“(I’m) happy with the draw, it’s a difficult ground to play on and they are a hard working team,” he said.

Postecoglou said that his side was able to match Sunshine in terms of intensity.

“Unless you’re prepared to battle with them and work really hard and do all the hard things you have to do in sport, you will struggle.

“Today we fought hard and got a good result.”

Coach of only four weeks, Postecoglou said the draw was something for Whittlesea to build on when they meet cellar-dwellers Preston at home this week.

“We’re slowly starting to see some changes (to our game), and now we just need to win, and next week is a good opportunity to do that.”

Sunshine coach Andy O’Dell was disappointed in his side being the first side not to score against the Zebras this season.

“The message was that we have to work harder than them, that’s our strength and the boys let me down today,” he said.

The message pre-match from O’Dell to his chargers was that it was going to be a tough game and as promised, the winless-Whittlesea put a lot of pressure on the home side.

Whittlesea began well, putting the ball in the back of the net in the second minute, but the offside flag was raised, denying the Zebras an early lead.

Sunshine had the best scoring opportunity in the 14th minute with a long-range effort from George Papadopoulos bouncing off the cross bar, and eventually cleared by the Zebras’ Ross Antoniadis.

The Georgies kept up the forward pressure, which nearly paid off in the 20th minute, when Robert Simeoni had a free header opportunity, but the incoming cross could not find the imposing forward.

A defensive error in the 69th minute from the Zebras saw Papadopoulos pounce and feed the through ball to Phil Cutler, who was one-on-one with the keeper, but was ruled to be offside when the pass was made.

Whittlesea will take on Preston in the third Northern Community Cup, taking place at Epping Soccer Stadium on Sunday at 12.30pm.

This week, Sunshine will host South Melbourne, which has remained undefeated since Round Two.