Heart looked the more likely of the two sides to clinch a winner as a resolute United defence held them out.

And the Dutch boss was happy with another encouraging display which made it five points claimed from a run of three matches against clubs from last season's top four.

"I'm very happy with that. It's also good to see the squad in total is growing and we get more depth with these types of players getting in," he said.

Van 't Schip added: "It was a difficult game, especially in the first half.

"You could see that we have to get a little bit used to each other, and there were good parts.

"But it was also quite open. Gold Coast did it quite well by trying to press us high up and they achieved that a few times.

"We were very disciplined, we stayed in our organisation. I think the second half, we surely deserved more.

"We kept on pressing high, we played good football in some parts.

"I have to give a compliment to all the boys, and also of course, to those who came in and hadn't played many games until now."

Melbourne Heart, who are now in sixth spot, travel to Newcastle Jets on Sunday week in their next match.

Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg said: "I think Melbourne Heart deserved to win today.

"That was not the Melbourne Heart we planned to play against, they played very good. They surprised us in a few areas."

Bleiberg added: "But they still couldn't break us down and we still have a clean sheet and we still haven't lost for seven games.

"We're doing our job, if we can't win, we don't lose."

Gold Coast's next match is away to North Queensland on Sunday October 31.