Ryan Teague's 87th-minute penalty has helped Melbourne Victory rescue a 2-2 draw with Western Sydney, moving them into second spot on the A-League Men table.
Nicolas Milanovic took advantage of a turnover by Brendan Hamill to fire the Wanderers ahead in the 76th minute on Saturday, with the hosts staring at the prospect of a defeat at AAMI Park that would have dropped them to sixth.
But a call from the VAR to review Jack Clisby’s sliding block of a Nishan Velupillay attempt provided a lifeline for Victory, as it was ruled the defender had unfairly deflected the effort with his arms.
It allowed Teague to step up and rifle an equaliser home from the spot.
But the decision raised the ire of Wanderers coach Alen Stajcic, who thought that Clisby’s arm was supporting his slide, which wouldn’t have constituted an infringement.
Stajcic even went so far as to declare he no longer knew what constituted a handball and what didn’t.
While the point moves Victory second, the result also means their winless run since Patrick Kisnorbo’s shock move to quit as coach now stands at four, with three draws and a loss.
“A point tonight puts us in second position, that's something to be pretty proud of and pretty happy with,” interim coach Arthur Diles said.
“We're building our game model and we want to get better.
“In the end, there's four difficult games that we've come up with in the last two weeks and we're sitting in second spot tonight, so that's something that we're very proud of.”
Rebounding from their derby loss to Macarthur, the Wanderers remain seventh, three points back of a log jam of sides sitting third through to sixth on 18 points.
Going from hero to villain in 16 minutes, Victory skipper Roderick Miranda played a major role in both of the first-half’s goals.
He headed his side in front after 29 minutes before playing a calamitous backpass that was seized upon and fired home by Aydan Hammond on the stroke of halftime.
The Wanderers had created a series of chances through Brandon Borrello and Zac Sapsford before then that should have given them a lead to defend but their finishing was wayward.
Borrello popped up late searching for a dramatic winner, as did Velupillay up the other end, but the points were ultimately shared.
"Pretty disappointed not to get the three points. We fought hard,” said Stajcic.
“When we finally did fight back and get the lead, I thought we earned it at that period.
“We worked our way into the game and were the more dangerous team.
“We just lost the flow of the game in that last 10 minutes, which was disappointing.”
