Brisbane Roar blew a golden opportunity to strengthen their A-League Women finals hopes, limping to a 3-3 draw with the Wellington Phoenix.
The Phoenix looked to be heading for another defeat when Kate Taylor was sent off and the Roar raced out to a 2-0 lead inside half-an-hour at Brisbane’s AJ Kelly Park.
Shea Connors and Katrina Gorry gave the home side the advantage.
But Brisbane failed to make their lead and numerical superiority count, allowing the Phoenix to register three unanswered goals before Larissa Crummer popped up with a face-saving 85th-minute equalizer.
The draw leaves the Roar in sixth spot – six points adrift of the top four – while Wellington remains rock bottom after a seventh defeat in 10 games.
The match had been pushed back 24 hours after Phoenix’s flight out of Wellington was cancelled.
And the visitors were slow out of the blocks as Connors was able to burst down the left flank to score the opener after 14 minutes.
Connors’ pace was causing the Kiwi outfit problems and Taylor brought the Roar forward down on the edge of the box when she threatened to add a second 13 minutes later.
Taylor was duly giving her marching orders and Gorry scored from the ensuing free kick as the home side took control.
A long-range first-half free kick from Michaela Foster brought Wellington back into the contest and a belief they could salvage something was only enhanced when Milly Clegg weaved through a sea of Roar defenders to finish past goalkeeper Hensley Hancuff just past the hour mark.
Grace Wisnewski, who had cleared a Crummer effort off the line in the first half, then gave her side an unlikely lead with less than 15 minutes of regular time remaining.
Brisbane threw bodies forward and it was Crummer who was able to turn and poke an effort beyond the reach of Wellington keeper Brianna Edwards to secure a draw.
Wellington thought they had grabbed a winner through substitute Michaela Robertson in added time, only for the assistant referee to flag for offside.
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