Wooden spoon candidates Perth Glory came back from being down in the first half at Members Equity Stadium to stun aspirants Central Coast Mariners with a 2-1 lead at the end of 90 mins - but again the Mariners came back to draw 2-2 in stoppage time.
Second best for much of the match, the Mariners were perhaps fortunate to come away from their only trip to the Western Australian capital for 2008/09 with anything to show for their efforts, and indeed with their place in the Hyundai A-League top four just intact.
A sensational second half brace from in form striker Nikita Rukavytsya looked set to take Perth Glory to a deserved victory against Central Coast but the home side had to be content with a point after the Mariners grabbed a dramatic equaliser.
Trailing at the half, Glory came out full of fight in the second period with Rukavytsya’s double giving the home fans plenty to cheer about. A vital three points were within touching distance before being cruelly snatched from Glory’s grip as substitute Petrovski snuck behind the defence to tumble his shot past Tando Velaphi as calls for off-side fell on deaf ears.
"We came back well in the second half, played some good football and our second goal was a classic", Glory's coach Dave Mitchell said. "That’s why it is so disappointing for the club, the owners, the fans and the coaches and players that we haven’t been able to shut them out. It is gut-wrenching for the players, we’ve been playing well but just can’t hold onto a lead and in the end it’s not good enough".
The Mariners have carved out a reputation as one of the most dangerous counter-attacking sides in the competition and despite being starved of meaningful possession for the first half-hour they took the lead in spectacular style on 31 minutes. A free kick on the edge of the box saw Mile Jedinak step up, as he did at Blue Tongue Stadium when the two sides met earlier in the season, to curl the ball over the wall and into the far corner of the net.
Rukavytsya used his incredible acceleration and pace to race clear of a flat-footed Mariners backline to calmly drill a well-struck shot into the back of the net in the 54th minute.
Glory pressed home their advantage and got their noses in front just eight minutes later when Adrian Trinidad and Eugene Dadi combined cleverly on the edge of the box to tee up Rukavytsya who bagged his eighth goal of the campaign with a crisp low drive.
The equalising goal came in the final minute of stoppage time when a miss-hit shot from Dylan Macallister fell kindly for Saso Petrovski at the far post and he slid in to secure a share of the spoils.
"I feel as though we were lucky and fortunate today but we still showed character in coming back to get a goal in the last minute," said Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna after the match.
"We should have been able to come out in the second half and defend, we knew they were going to come at us and we were starting to get through it, but Perth dominated the second half, they had us under all sorts of pressure".
"Once they got a goal they lifted and I’ve said it many times that it’s hard to get a result over here, before the game I said that I’d be happy with a draw and now I’m very happy with the draw and think that we’re very fortunate to have got it."