Rival England strikers Darius Vassell and Alan Smith drew a blank as Aston Villa and Leeds fought out a goalless draw in a game of precious few clear-cut chances.

Vassell and Smith had the chance to step up their claims and impress England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson ahead of the European Championship qualifiers with Slovakia and Macedonia but both were kept in check.

Both sides have underachieved so far this season and there was little evidence from this performance that they will be challenging for anything but the consolation prizes in the Barclaycard Premiership this season.

Villa's problem all season has been their chronic lack of firepower despite manager Graham Taylor having five strikers at his disposal.

He even went to a 3-4-3 formation in the second period, bringing on Juan Pablo Angel alongside Vassell and veteran Dion Dublin, and Villa enjoyed the bulk of the possession when England Under-21 wing-back Jlloyd Samuel got forward to good effect.

But, although Villa looked the more likely to score particularly in the second period, the cutting edge was again not there.

The harsh reality is that Leeds goalkeeper Paul Robinson had only one save worthy of the name to make in the entire 90 minutes as most of the home side's efforts came from outside of the box.

Leeds may have been feeling the effects of their midweek UEFA Cup exertions but there was clearly a spark missing from their performance and also no width to their play as the Villa defence coped comfortably with their efforts to break.

Smith could not be faulted for his effort and commitment but he did not have a clear-cut opening in the entire 90 minutes.

The first semblance of an opening fell to Leeds defender Danny Mills after he continued his run into the penalty area and seized onto a pass from Nick Barmby who had spun away from his marker.

But the England full-back opted to shoot first time and his effort curled past Villa goalkeeper Peter Enckelman's far post.

Mills was then in the thick of the action in his more accustomed role with a vital clearance from almost on his own goalline to cut out a cross from Ulises de la Cruz with Dublin ready to pounce.

Villa were forced into a reshuffle after 13 minutes when Ronny Johnsen limped out of the action, forcing Gareth Barry to drop back into defence and substitute Oyvind Leonhardsen taking up his midfield role.

Enckelman dealt comfortably with an Ian Harte free-kick while at the other end Vassell threatened for the first time when his shot on the turn took a slight deflection off Mills and was parried for a corner by Robinson.

The game was hardly a classic with most of the more threatening efforts on goal coming from outside the box with Vassell cutting in from the right and curling a shot into the side-netting.

Dublin was looking for his 100th Premiership goal and the chance came his way to reach that milestone when he met a cross from de la Cruz but he sent his header past the post.

But in truth there was precious little from either sides in the opening 45 minutes to excite a 33,505 crowd who greeted the half-time whistle with boos.

Taylor responded by reverting to a 3-4-3 system at the start of the second half, replacing substitute Leonhardsen with club-record signing Angel.

But it was Leeds who squandered the best chance of the game through Lee Bowyer within three minutes of the restart.

The England midfielder had only Enckelman to beat after the otherwise ineffective Harry Kewell had laid the ball into his path but he side-footed his effort past the far post.

Villa upped the tempo and Dominic Matteo denied Vassell with a vital clearance after Samuel had threaded the ball across the area.

Samuel was becoming an increasing threat down the left flank and Mills became the first player to be yellow-carded for bringing him down in full flight.

Samuel almost secured victory in injury time with a curling effort which flew only inches past the post with Robinson well beaten but Leeds held on for their first draw of the campaign.

Teams

Aston Villa Enckelman, Mellberg, Staunton, Johnsen (Leonhardsen 14), Barry, De la Cruz, Hendrie, Samuel, Kinsella, Dublin, Vassell, Leonhardsen (Angel 45).

Subs Not Used: Postma, Allback, Crouch.

Booked: Vassell.

Leeds Robinson, Mills, Woodgate, Matteo, Harte, Bowyer, Barmby, McPhail (Viduka 67), Bakke, Kewell, Smith.

Subs Not Used: Martyn, Kelly, Lucic, McMaster.

Booked: Mills.

Att: 33,505

Ref: M Halsey (Lancashire).