Auckland FC twice came from behind to draw with Sydney FC thanks to two headed goals from Guillermo May.
Auckland battled at times and it was nervy stuff, May’s second coming in the 90th minute after a nice team move with a cute assist coming courtesy of Liam Gillion.
Whether a point will prove to be enough to secure second place and pass straight through to the semi-final remains to be seen.
Auckland will have to wait and hope Adelaide fail to win away at Melbourne City.
The Black Knights started slowly, a couple of impressive saves from Woud and the upright keeping the away side in it. Auckland were forced into an early change when Felipe Gallegos went off holding his hamstring, replaced by Cam Howieson.
The second half brought much more intensity with May replacing Rogerson and both teams stepping up to the occasion to play with an energy rarely seen in the first half.
Sydney scored first in the 56th minute, a deflected shot from the edge of the area wrongfooting Woud and suddenly Auckland had work to do. Ten minutes later Auckland responded when May reacted quickest to a Sam Cosgrove flick on. A header from six yards was fired back across goal and into the net.
That spurned the away team on with them playing some of their best football of the match, Louis Verstraete in particular looking a commanding presence in the middle and Jessie Randall getting more of the ball down the left side.
It was against the run of play then when Sydney scored their second, a nice corner routine getting the better of the Auckland defence.
Fortunately, parity was restored when May scored his second and Auckland’s 100th ever competitive goal in the 90th minute. Also ensuring Auckland and Steve Corica remain unbeaten against Sydney FC.
It was a second half performance the team will take a lot from. For now though they’ll be watching and hoping Melbourne City do them a favour in the late game against Adelaide.
