The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 plus 4 letter word GOALLESS DRAW
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
G
O
A
L
L
E
S
S
D
R
A
W
More clues leading to the result GOALLESS DRAW
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Net result of all efforts coming to nought" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case net result of all efforts coming to nought = goalless draw.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.