A last-minute own goal from Neil Kilkenny saved Tony Popovic’s side from another defeat, securing a 1-1 draw with Melbourne City at Spotless Stadium.
If Western Sydney can take heart from their refusal to accept defeat, after Tim Cahill’s second goal of the season had put City ahead, there was little else to warm the heart from either side.
The point apiece lifts the Wanderers into the top six, but gives Sydney FC the chance to stretch their lead at the top over City, and John van ’t Schip’s side were furious at the late concession.
The Wanderers were equally furious at another mistake from the match officials, with striker Kerem Bulut denied a first goal of the season by an over-eager offisde flag - an error compounded moments later by Cahill’s goal.
“The less said about that (Bulut) decision the better,” said Popovic who was cited in the week by A-League bosses for his comments about another referee. “I’d rather look at how good that move was, it was fantastic play and deserved to be a goal.
“We’d started the second half well and we were clearly on top but we dropped for a bit and I think we were psychologically affected by it.
In truth both sides seemed affected by a malaise of technique and possession. Out of keeping with much of the football this season, it was largely a night of misplaced passes, turnovers and mistakes.
For Cahill there was the unique feeling of being roundly booed by an Australian crowd - albeit with the knowledge that it was a goal which sparked the derision.
Adding insult to injury for the Western Sydney fans, the Socceroo’s goal came just minutes after Bulut had thought he had given his side the lead, only to be pulled back by an errant offside flag.
Unaware, Bulut promptly sprinted towards and into the crowd, not realising for fully 30 seconds that his goal would not stand
Reprieved, City took full advantage, thanks to two pieces of quality that stood out like cactuses in the desert.
First was a clever low cross from Fernando Brandan, and the second was the way Cahill used his first touch from the cross to sidestep goalkeeper Jerrad Tyson, and the second touch, with the outside of his boot as his body fell away - to touch the ball home.
Making his first appearance in almost three years, with Andrew Redmayne dropped after a series of unconvincing performances, Tyson could do little about the goal.
But his very selection was symptomatic of the uncertainty surrounding the Wanderers defensively, having conceded more goals than ever before at this stage of any season.
As the game entered its final seconds both sides had registered just a solitary shot each on target, but finally Western Sydney earned a point.
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