Kevin Johnston

Star correspondent

Indy Eleven goalkeeper Jon Busch wasn’t called upon to do much Saturday afternoon for the first 70-plus minutes of Indy’s 0-0 home draw against the San Francisco Deltas, which probably was a good thing for a 40-year-old just returning from injury.

But in the 75th minute, Busch had to brilliantly track a bending and dipping effort from Deltas midfielder Kyle Bekker to make a fingertip save and preserve the clean sheet. Bekker’s shot was destined for the top far corner.

Busch’s parry helped Indy move its home unbeaten streak to 20 matches. However, the club remains winless on the season — a season in which it’s had to deal with more knocks than it would like.

With regular starting wingers Ben Speas and Don Smart on the shelf, Indy coach Tim Hankinson opted for experience in his starting eleven. New Zealand international Craig Henderson drew the start at left midfielder, while Sinisa Ubiparipovic lined up as the central attacking midfielder. Henderson quickly switched sides and spent most of his afternoon on the right wing, though.

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The insertions forced normally central Brad Ring to be listed as the starter on the right flank, but he drifted into the middle often and essentially played his usual role as a holding midfielder.

Indy was a little too anxious to get the ball forward early on. The home side forced several balls upfield in the opening 20 minutes that led to turnovers. Eventually, the match turned into a battle of attrition in the midfield, with neither club able to generate dangerous chances inside the box.

“Sometimes we took too many passes,” Hankinson told WNDY-23 commentators Greg Rakestraw and Brad Hauter after the match. “I believe in possession, but we’d get up within 25 yards of their box and we were still trying to ticky-tack passes. And sometimes that final touch would get away from us instead of thinking more productively.

“In the first half, we really wasted a lot of our opportunities to create goal-scoring chances for the strikers. You can’t attack half the game.”

Just before the 30-minute mark, the Eleven finally got organized and began threatening, as Henderson and right back Marco Franco found space on the right side to serve in crosses.

Dutch fullback Kenny Teijsse, who’s been rock solid for the Deltas this season in leading the team in tackles and duels won entering Saturday’s match, turned in another solid performance. The 24-year-old constantly made life difficult for Indy’s right-side attackers and defenders. He was dangerous going forward, and defensively chipped in five duels won, four clearances and three tackles.

Imposing Deltas forward Tom Heinemann also caused sporadic problems for the Eleven back line, but center back Lovel Palmer largely held him in check.

“Lovel did a good job,” Hankinson told WNDY-23. “Heinemann is a beast.”

After accumulating four draws in four matches, Indy will head south in search of its first win against first-place Jacksonville (Fla.) Armada FC next Saturday.