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Melbourne City and Perth Glory have shared the spoils in a wild A-League encounter at AAMI Park, the sides locked at 3-3 after City skipper Bruno Fornaroli missed an injury time penalty.
Referee Shaun Evans pointed to the spot in the 91st minute after Dino Djulbic fouled Fernando Brandan off the ball, but the match was held up for several minutes as Evans consulted with the fourth official.
Djulbic was initially sent off over the incident but then Brandan was also shown red after the referees’ consultation.
However, Fornaroli’s shot was sensationally saved by Glory keeper Liam Reddy – his second penalty save of the night.
City were awarded three penalties in the at-times spiteful encounter, with Fornaroli scoring one and having the other two saved.
Fornaroli ended the night with two goals, with that effort matched by a brace from Glory’s Diego Castro.
Glory should have gone ahead in the third minute but Chris Harold sent his open header wide from close range and Tim Cahill made them pay.
The Socceroos superstar was inexplicably allowed to find space near the penalty spot in the ninth minute and duly rose to head home a Nicolas Colazo corner in trademark fashion.
With Michael Jakobsen and Osama Malik out injured, City were severely depleted down back and Castro exploited that weakness with a surgeon’s precision.
Harold found the Spanish sharpshooter in an acre of space just inside the box in the 21st minute and he squeezed his shot to the right of the despairing lunge of Dean Bouzanis.
After Cahill had a second goal disallowed when he infringed on the Glory keeper, Fornaroli restored his side’s lead with a lofted shot in heavy traffic that found the top left corner.
Castro sent the sides into halftime at 2-2 when he coolly slotted a low shot to the right of Bouzanis in a counter-attack immediately after Reddy guessed right to parry Fornaroli’s penalty kick with 39 minutes played.
The City skipper made no mistake when he was given another opportunity from the spot in the 61st minute after the referee took the advice of his linesman after Marc Warren brought down Bruce Kamau in the box.
Harold made amends when he beat Bouzanis at his near post with a stunning close-range shot in the 64th minute.
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