A stunning free kick by substitute Shannon Cole salvaged Sydney FC a point in an amazing 3-3 draw with Melbourne Victory in their season-opening A-League grand final rematch on Saturday night.
The Victory appeared headed for a spectacular win after coming from 2-0 down to take the lead with three goals in seven minutes midway through the second half at the Sydney Football Stadium.
But Cole ensured Sydney took something from the first game of their title defence when he curled a spectacular free kick past Victory keeper Michael Petkovic in the 86th minute.
Sydney had appeared well on track to make a winning start to their title defence after a Kevin Muscat howler gifted Alex Brosque a first-half opener and Terry McFlynn doubled the advantage in the 53rd minute.
But from almost nowhere the Victory blew Sydney apart with young striker Mate Dugandzic inspiring a seven-minute goal blitz.
There was a touch of fortune as Leigh Broxham got Melbourne off the mark in the 66th minute, when he accidentally headed Tom Pondeljak’s cross into his own feet and into the net.
But there was nothing lucky about Melbourne’s second, with Dugandzic displaying sublime skill to bring down another Pondeljak cross and level the scores in the 68th minute.
With the 12,106 home fans silenced, the Victory didn’t stop there, with Dugandzic showing dazzling footwork and patience to set up Billy Celeski to tap in in the 73rd minute.
Sydney had an instant chance to equalise with Mark Bridge failing to beat Petkovic from close range, but it took something special from Cole after a controversial free kick was awarded when Adrian Leijer had brought down Bridge just outside the box.
The home side nearly pulled off a memorable victory with McFlynn denied in a goalmouth scramble in injury time.
Melbourne’s comeback saved further embarrassment for captain Muscat, who was having another night to forget after famously missing a penalty in last season’s decider.
The Victory captain, on his 37th birthday, was uncharacteristically dispossessed by Bridge on his own line, with a squared ball allowing Brosque to open the scoring in the 36th minute.
Sydney were impressive early on, with new marquee signing Nick Carle showing glimpses of brilliance and veteran defender Hayden Foxe going close twice with headed attempts.
Victory coach Ernie Merrick admitted some of his players were bemused by referee Matthew Breeze’s awarding of the free kick that led to Cole’s equaliser, but was thrilled with his side’s fighting spirit.
“No-one on our team knows why there was a free kick and I think ask Mark Bridge because Adrian (Leijer) didn’t know either why it was a free kick,” Merrick said.
“But the referee calls it … we should have done better perhaps.
“To know we came back and scored three goals, there’s so many positives, I didn’t really worry about it.
“Some of the decisions go for you others go against you.”
Merrick also praised Muscat for bouncing back from his early error.
“He made an error and he’s first to put up his hand, I thought Kevin had an outstanding game,” Merrick said.
Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka said it was a “very strange” game.
“I think first half we controlled the game … everything was pretty good,” Lavicka said.
“But after we scored the second goal we had a bad period, we lost concentration and one goal dropped us down and it was a very horrible period.
“I am happy that when we were one goal down, we started again to believe we could change the game.”
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