City's hopes of second spot in danger after blowing two-goal lead vs. Adelaide

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:14 am

Ten-man Melbourne City blew their chance to claim second spot in the A-League, drawing 2-2 with Adelaide after dropping a 2-0 lead at ANZ Stadium.

Adrian Luna opened the scoring in the 34th minute, with Jamie Maclaren snaring his 20th goal of the season in the 40th minute.

But after City's Craig Noone was sent off in the 67th minute, Adelaide's Kristian Opseth scored a 78th-minute penalty before Ben Halloran's 91st-minute strike earned the Reds a point.

City would have secured second place with a win but are now just three points ahead of Wellington with a game to play.

Adelaide (36 points) still rely on Western United (33 points) bungling their remaining three games to qualify for finals, with Perth (37 points) now guaranteed to play the finals.

Melbourne City players were frustrated following a draw against Adelaide.
Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

In the 23rd minute, the goal post spared Jordan Elsey's blushes when the Adelaide centre-back almost sent a wild backpass into his own net.

Halloran then had a golden chance to open the scoring in the 33rd minute but volleyed wide. Less than a minute later, City struck.

Florin Berenguer dashed down the left wing before releasing Noone, who whipped a left-footed cross towards a diving Luna to head home.

In the 39th minute, Adelaide defender Ryan Kitto's sharp long-range strike forced City goalkeeper Tom Glover into a save.

Within a minute, City doubled their lead.

Berenguer found Lachie Wales on the right, and the winger's cross took a deflection with Maclaren rising over Elsey to head home and snare outright golden boot leadership.

The game was turned on its head in the 67th minute when Noone went flying in on Michael Jakobsen and received a straight red card.

Ten minutes later, substitute Pacifique Niyongabire did brilliantly to win a penalty -- cutting past Nathaniel Atkinson and then Luna -- before the Uruguayan bodied him just inside the area. Opseth calmly dispatched the spot-kick to give the Reds hope.

In the first minute of injury time, Halloran left Scott Galloway in his wake and ripped a terrific strike past Glover to earn the Reds a point.