By Cosmos News Service

OTTAWA (August 26, 2015) - The New York Cosmos extended their unbeaten streak to seven matches as they were held to a scoreless draw by Ottawa in a top-of-the-table North American Soccer League showdown at TD Place Wednesday night.

“The game was exactly how we planned it and thought it was going to be,” said Cosmos head coach Giovanni Savarese. “There were no surprises. The only thing that maybe we lacked a little bit was finding more solutions to break them down. It wasn’t easy.”

"Ottawa is a very difficult team because they defend very well," said Cosmos midfielder Andrés Flores. The Salvadoran international made his sixth consecutive start in Ottawa. "They really played for their fans. We were able to maintain possession of the ball, and they were content to let us have it, but they made it tough for us to break through."

The Fury have a four-point lead in the NASL Fall Season Standings, but the Cosmos maintained their five-point advantage on top of the Combined Season Standings.

“For us, we’re not content with only a tie,” Savarese said. “We wanted a win, the three points. It’s not a bad result, but it’s not the one we came here for.”

The Cosmos (4-4-1) had more of the possession in the first half. In the 22^nd minute, Adam Moffat had time and space to unleash a low shot from distance, but Ottawa goalkeeper Romuald Peiser made the save.

Six minutes later, Raúl slid a pass to Walter Restrepo on his right and the midfielder put a well-struck shot on frame following a long spell of possession. However Peiser parried it away for a Cosmos corner kick.

One minute from halftime, Paulo Junior attempted a shot for Ottawa, but it deflected in the air leading to an easy grab for Cosmos goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer.

“There were some good situations in the first half where we were able to maintain the ball more. We created chances and did some good things,” Savarese said. “I think we could have been a little bit better, combining more and being able to provide more options going forward. Nevertheless we created some interesting situations, and I thought we did fairly well for playing against a team that did not give too much space.”

Ottawa (6-2-1) broke out of its defensive shell and Carl Haworth had a pair of quality chances early in the second half. But the forward rolled an open shot from the top of the 18-yard box wide in the 50^th minute and then had an attempt from 17 yards out blocked for a Fury corner kick.

In the 70^th minute, Tom Heinemann attempted a diving header from the edge of the six-yard box, but it floated well wide of the net.

“They found a little bit of space and that’s how they started to attack,” Savarese said. “Also for us, it’s a big field and moving so much, trying to break them down was tough. You can tell a lot of their offensive players had a very defensive role today and they were very compact.”

Both teams were attack-minded in the four minutes of second-half stoppage time, but neither could garner quality scoring chances in the waning moments and settled for a share of the points.

“I think they were able to be very solid defensively,” Savarese said. “We tried to break them down, but it was very difficult. They had one or two chances to score, but I think we had more of the ball than they did. I think maybe it was a fair result.”

The Cosmos won the four previous meetings with the Fury, most recently 1-0 at Brooklyn’s MCU Park during the spring campaign. The teams meet again at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium on September 22.

The Cosmos return home to take on the Carolina RailHawks this Sunday, August 30 at 4 p.m. ET. Last Saturday the Cosmos earned their first-ever road win against Carolina, beating the hosts 3-1 at WakeMed Soccer Park.

“We’re going to look to continue getting three points,” Savarese said. “It’s one game at a time. This one is behind us and we have to prepare now for this weekend.”