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Shot after shot, the Real Salt Lake players fired away at goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. From distance, in close. Off free kicks and corners, well-placed headers and tantalizing through balls in the run of play.

Midfielder Javier Morales even tried a bicycle kick.

Yet for all of the seemingly endless scoring opportunities it created with probably its most encouraging 90-minute effort in weeks, RSL just could not find the back of the net, and had to settle for a 0-0 draw with the Kansas

City Wizards in front of 11,327 fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday night.

"We did everything right except put the ball away," RSL's Kyle Beckerman said.

The draw prevented RSL from winning back-to-back games for the first time in nearly a year, and put a dent in its hopes of emerging from its current home-heavy stretch of games in first place in the Major League Soccer Western Conference. The team moved to 3-5-3 for 12 points - just two ahead of last-place San Jose.

"The effort was there," midfielder Dema Kovalenko said. "Everybody worked their ass off. . . . Just, at the end of the day, it's frustrating."

Especially because of the quality of chances RSL created. After absorbing an aggressive attack in the first 20 minutes or so - Kansas City's Davy Arnaud hit the crossbar in the seventh minute - RSL dominated, launching 19 shots yet watching them all bound fruitlessly away. Hartman was part of the reason, making seven saves for his league-leading fourth shutout of the season as the Wizards moved to 3-4-3 for 12 points in the MLS Eastern Conference.

"That's really my job," Hartman said, "to get clean sheets and give our team an opportunity to get wins."

But it was hardly all Hartman.

Striker Robbie Findley fired high on a golden opportunity in the opening minutes, for example, and Morales floated his bicycle kick wide after striker Kenny Deuchar had smartly knocked a header down into the area later in the first half.

Minutes after that, Deuchar rose up for a header but struck it right at Hartman, then couldn't quite corral the rebound enough to get a shot on frame, and Findley whiffed on a perfect pass in front of the goal.

On and on, it went.

"There's a lot of positive things to take out of that game," coach Jason Kreis said. "There was a lot of good soccer on our part. I really thought we were the aggressors the entire night. The only thing you could shake your head about or scratch your head about is the final touch - because if that was there, I think we would have had quite a few goals tonight."

Instead, RSL heads off to Chivas USA next weekend without the momentum for which it had been hoping. It has never won at Chivas, and has lost all five of its road games this season.

"When we've got a team back against the wall, we have to learn to put them away," Kreis said.

At least, RSL avoided another last-minute collapse.

Goalkeeper Nick Rimando fully extended himself diving to his left to tip away a blast by Kansas City's Kerry Zavagnin and prevent it from curling cruelly inside the post, just as stoppage time began.

"Lucky I got a finger on it," Rimando said.

Sadly for RSL, that was their only luck of the night.