An Angel Torres penalty has helped the Central Coast Mariners salvage a 2-2 draw with unbeaten Melbourne Victory in the A-League Men.
After scoring the opener through Alou Kuol, the Mariners fell behind at home on Sunday by conceding twice in six minutes either side of half-time.
But in the 73rd minute, Colombian recruit Torres stepped up for a spot kick after Fabian Monge’s hand-ball in the area and tied the game with his first ALM goal.
The Mariners enjoyed the better of late chances, most notably a long-range strike from Jacob Farrell that Victory goalkeeper Paul Izzo jumped to slap away. But neither side could find a game-winner.
“If there was another 10 minutes, I think we would’ve won today,” Farrell told Paramount Plus.
“I thought we did well in the second half.”
The result helped the Mariners continue to stabilise after they stopped a four-game losing streak with last week’s first win of the season.
But the reigning champions will still finish the weekend only one point off the bottom of the ladder.
Victory, meanwhile, have drawn their past four games, but remain entrenched in the top six. “For me, it’s always two points lost. We came here to win the three points,” striker Bruno Fornaroli told Paramount Plus of the result.
“We were in front for a period, we tried to control the game and unfortunately we conceded another goal.”
Kuol put the Mariners on the board after 16 minutes when he dispossessed Victory captain Roderick Miranda on the edge of the area and shot past Victory goalkeeper Paul Izzo.
But that was the Mariners’ last solid chance of a dour first half.
Fornaroli opened up a gap atop the individual scoring leaderboard with one of the goals of the season in the final minute of first-half stoppage time.
The Uruguayan-born forward beat Brian Kaltak and Dan Hall as he skirted around the edge of the box, before firing a perfectly timed strike into the top right corner of the goal.
“It was a good goal, actually,” Fornaroli said.
“I’m happy to help the team, that’s what I try to do all the time as a striker. Of course we try to score goals, but I’d prefer to win the points.”
The Mariners were left to rue their inability to create chances as Victory took the first lead.
When Torres slipped over trying to contain Nishan Velupillay at the edge of the area, the under-23 Australian representative took full advantage and cannoned the ball into the back of the net.
However, Torres soon had his revenge.