Sydney let two-goal lead slip as Adelaide fight back for draw

Sleepy Sydney FC let a two-goal advantage slip as Adelaide United narrowly missed out on a rare away win in their 2-2 A-League draw at Leichhardt Oval.

The Sky Blues seemed set for maximum points with Bobo scoring his double inside 51 minutes but went to bed early as the Reds worked their way back into the contest.

Jordan Elsey scored in the 75th minute and Tomi Juric nailed his free kick in the 79th, the visitors dominating the last 10 minutes of play to almost pinch the result.

Adelaide coach Carl Veart described defending champions Sydney as still the yardstick of the competition and felt a fourth away win had been deserving for his side.

"I think we deserved the draw - on another night we would have come away with three points," Veart said.

Sydney dominated until midway through the second half, the attacking trinity of Alexander Baumjohann, Milos Ninkovic and Bobo combining to make it 1-0 after 19 minutes.

Baumjohann showed great vision from just over halfway, penetrating the Reds' central defence with a sublime diagonal ball to find Ninkovic unmarked before Bobo drove home.

Six minutes into the second half, he made it 48 goals from 69 A-League games with another straight-forward finish.

Juric had a chance for Adelaide in the 39th minute but it was the last third of the match where, with increased possession, they shone brightest.

The initial goal came when Craig Goodwin found some space, cutting it back to Elsey who made it 2-1.

It didn't take long for their second. Juric's free kick then went through the wall and beat Andrew Redmayne to square things up four minutes later.

It should have been 3-2 on 87 minutes when Ben Halloran's cross was dropped by Redmayne but Ryan McGowan did some admirable clean-up work.

There was more drama at the death when Rhyan Grant was red-carded for stopping a clear chance goal-scoring opportunity for Goodwin in the 93rd minute, but time ran out and Sydney hung on for the draw.

Sky Blues coach Steve Corica thought his side was guilty of sloppiness as much as sleepiness, admitting they'd panicked after the first Adelaide goal.

"Very frustrating - two weeks in a row now, we should have an extra four points," he said, with Sydney conceding a 98th minute goal in their last-up 1-1 draw with Melbourne City. We conceded two sloppy goals - and it was costly."

Adelaide stay in third place on 30 points while Sydney are fourth on 27.