Gutsy Boulevard grabbed a crucial moral victory in this bruising battle between two largely makeshift teams at St. David's.

In a storming first half they threatened to tear Dandy Town apart.

They ran their opponents completely ragged, assuming a crushing dominance of the midfield.

It allowed them to lay virtual siege to Town's goalmouth for 45 minutes.

But, sadly for Boulevard, they failed to translate their dominance into goals.

Too often the attractive sweeping passing movements -- often generated by Vernon Symonds -- broke down within 18 yards of Anthony Manders' goal.

And in the second half, with Boulevard gradually running out of steam Town staged a spirited fightback.

Neither side, however, had sufficient penetration up front -- and there were few clear-cut chances.

By far the best opportunity of the first half went to Symonds in the 42nd minute.

After Manders failed to gather the ball, Symonds was left with an open goal from 15 yards out.

But he badly miscued his shot, and the ball went harmlessly to the side of Manders' goal, to the groans of the scores of Boulevard fans lining the pitch.

Town failed to carve out any meaningful openings in the first half, too often letting themselves down with poor passing.

Stevie Wade frequently got himself into good positions, but was unable to make them count.

The second half kicked off with a seemingly revitalised Town making hopeful surges into their opponents' territory.

Within 10 minutes of the restart Wade linked up with Carlos Smith who powered a shot over the bar.

And minutes later Jerome Belboda lined up a 20-yard shot, which also thundered over Ed Oliver's head.

Sensing they had finally joined battle, Town substituted Dennis Robinson for Kurt Martin in the 60th minute.

And shortly afterwards they brought on Lionel Cann for a tiring Wade.

Boulevard, meanwhile, replaced Norrell Hull with Max Hall in the 82nd minute.

The changes, however, failed to have a big impact on the course of the match, which seemed destined to remain scoreless.

Afterwards, a disappointed Town coach Robert Calderon declared it was back to the drawing board for his team.

Boulevard: E.Oliver, K.Darrell, W.Richardson, D.Boyles, C.Steede, V.Symonds, A.Brown, D.Warren, M.Smith, N.Hull (M.Hall, 82 mins), V.Eve.

Dandy Town: A.Manders, J.Belboda, W.Rudo, W.Campbell, P.Douglas, S.Smith, R.Parsons, D.Robinson (K.Martin, 60 mins), W.Musson, C.Smith, S.Wade (L.Cann, 75 mins).

Referee: Roddy Burchall.

Men of the match: Vernon Symonds (Boulevard); Anthony Manders (Dandy Town).

HEAVY TRAFFIC -- Boulevard's Dwight Warren takes on Dandy Town's Dennis Robinson (6) and Shivaughn Smith in yesterday's scoreless draw at St. David's.