Dillon Powers missed an 88th-minute penalty as Colorado Rapids were held to a goalless draw at Real Salt Lake this morning.

Powers found himelf with a glorious chance to settle what was a see-saw encounter at the Rio Tinto Stadium, but he fluffed his lines from 12 yards as the hosts earned a point.

Colorado had the best chances early on but Juan Ramirez and Luis Solignac both spurned decent opportunities inside the first 17 minutes.

The hosts struggled to develop a foothold in proceedings and Sam Cronin fluffed another chance for the Rapids on the half-hour mark.

It was the wake-up call that Salt Lake needed and Luke Mulholland's fierce left-footed drive whistled past the post minutes later as both sides shared the spoils at the break.

They failed to build on that advantage, however, and Colorado went close again on 51 minutes, with Nick Rimando pushing away Cronin's punt from inside the box.

The pendulum swung back in favour of the hosts but two chances went begging through John Stertzer and Alvaro Saborio.

With two minutes remaining it looked like the Rapids would finally break the deadlock after Aaron Maund fouled Solignac, but Powers fired wide in a miss that summed up the visitors' night.