Ulises Davila salvaged a point for Macarthur FC in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Western United, scoring the third goal of his hat-trick in the 90th minute to ensure the spoils were shared at CommBank Stadium.
Ben Garuccio opened the scoring for Western in the opening three minutes, before two goals from Davila on either side of half-time – which made him the club’s all-time leading goalscorer – gave the Bulls the lead in the opening Isuzu UTE A-League fixture of Unite Round.
Western continued to push for an equaliser and got their due reward, when Daniel Penha nodded home a leveller, before the Brazilian’s stunning long range strike in the 85th minute gave Western a much-needed victory.
Just when it looked like Western were coming away with all three points, Davila popped up again to score the equaliser as his header took a heavy deflection off Jacob Tratt on its way into the back of the net.
It means Macarthur’s winless streak extends to six straight games, but have drawn their last three, meaning they remain in fifth place on the ladder, albeit having played two more games than nine other sides in the competition.
Meanwhile, Western will remain bottom of the ladder for at least another fortnight after their next fixture against Adelaide United was postponed, missing a golden opportunity in the process to jump Perth Glory heading into the rest of Unite Round.
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Western got off to a blistering start and took the lead within the opening three minutes. Daniel Penha fed through Michael Ruhs, whose cross towards Matthew Grimaldi skidded off he youngster into the path of Garuccio who made no mistake.
The visitors continued to ramp up the pressure, hemming the Bulls inside their own half, but couldn’t turn their dominance on the ball into chances on goal.
And as the first-half wore on, Macarthur started to gain the ascendancy and they were level thanks to a thing of beauty from their star midfielder.
Debutant Kealey Adamson played a pass to Davila, who was left with too much space outside the box, before blasting an unstoppable long range strike past the outstretched arms of Western keeper Thomas Heward-Belle.
Minutes later, Davila kickstarted a beautiful bit of interplay, which found its way back to the Mexican midfielder but his goal bound effort was denied by a desperate challenge from Jacob Tratt.
Western had a couple of chances to regain the lead as the first-half drew to a close, as Daniel Penha forced two quality saves from Kurto. First, the Brazilian’s brilliant header towards the bottom corner was clawed away by the Polish keeper, before moments later, having his long range strike denied again.
John Aloisi’s side then thought they had the lead once more on the brink of half-time, as Lachie Wales bundled home Ruhs’ cross.
However, it was deemed that the latter had handled the ball after his initial shot was saved by Kurto prior to his cross towards Wales.
After the break, Western were made to pay defensively once again, as Davila capitalised on a mistake to give the Bulls the lead.
A mix-up at the back between Josh Risdon and Tomoki Imai, led to Davila stealing the ball inside the Bulls penalty area, leading to the former Wellington man dancing his away around Heward-Belle and burying his second.
VAR was called to have a look at a potential foul in the build-up after Davila had caught Angus Thurgate with an accidental poke to the eye, but the decision was upheld.
The goal was his 19th in all competitions for the Bulls, leaping Lachie Rose (18 goals) in the process as the club’s leading goalscorer.
Western responded well to going behind, but were time and again denied by the brilliance of Kurto.
Wales was fed through a bouncing ball, but was unable to loop it over Kurto who was the only thing standing between him and an equaliser, before Penha would again try his luck, this time with a volley from the edge of the box, but had his strike saved again.
Finally, after a sustained period of dominance, the visitors would draw level. Substitute Ramy Najjarine played an unguarded Thurgate, whose shot smashed off the crossbar, and into the path of Penha who was quickest to react and nod home the equaliser.
Both sides threw everything at the kitchen sink in search of all three points, with the first quality chance falling to Valere Germain, but his volley bounced tamely into the arms of Heward-Belle.
Then, Penha would cause issues again in the final-third, teeing up Noah Botic, but the youngster’s effort across the face of goal went narrowly wide of the back post.
Western would then incredibly take the lead once more, as Najjarine played Penha, who created some space with a lovely drag back past Jake Hollman, and slammed it in off the post.
Just when it seemed like Western’s losing streak was over, there was even more drama in Paramatta, after Jerry Skotadis’ ball into the box was flicked goalwards by Davila, which in turn, took a heavy deflection off Tratt and into the back of the net.
The talking point
It’s starting to feel like groundhog day for Western United.
John Aloisi’s side surrendered yet another lead on Friday night, the third time it’s happened during their four game winless run.
This time, it was the closest they’ve come to claiming all three points, having worked so hard to regain the lead heading into second-half stoppage time.
“Look, we need wins,” Western defender Ben Garuccio said on Paramount + post-game.
“At the end of the day, we’re behind other teams, we need to catch up, and we need those three points.
“But look, probably the story of the season so far has been we’ve lacked in those key moments. Today we had the moments, we lead a couple of times and then we concede goals like that.
“We’ve just got to keep teams out. It’s hard. It feels like kind of everything’s going against us, and look we work with ‘Foxey’ (Hayden Foxe), he’s so big on that defensive structure. We work so hard on it, and we’re just kind of letting ourselves down.
“Look, Davila scores a hat trick. You’ve got to take your hat off sometimes, but it’s disappointing.”
Garuccio was seen to be frustrated following Davila’s equaliser as he felt there was a handball in the build-up.
“It’s just one of those seasons so far where you look at the VAR calls and most have gone against us,” he said.
“Look, it’s no excuse at the end of the day, I thought it hit Davila’s arm. The play continues. We still can defend it better. It’s no excuse. I’ll put my hands up.
“It’s just disappointing, but it’s heat at the moment. I’m always in the moment, I want to win, it kills me, it hurts me.”
The star
Ulises Davila and Daniel Penha were the stars of the show on Friday night.
Davila became the club’s all-time leading goalscorer with his first A-Leagues hat-trick at CommBank Stadium, which takes him two goals clear of previous leader Lachie Rose (who has 18 goals) atop the charts.
The Mexican midfielder now has 20 goals in all competitions, and seven this season alone, which includes five in the Isuzu UTE A-League and two goals in the AFC Cup.
“I hope to see more performances like that. I thought he played really well,” Macarthur coach Mile Sterjovski said in his post-game press conference.
“He looked dangerous and I’d love to see more performances like that, and he’s definitely still capable.
“I think he’s been inspirational for our club right from day one and we needed a big performance from him today.
“He put it in and I hope to see more of it and… he’s one of the best players in the league.
“There’s a lot of great players in the league, but he’s definitely up there, he’s proven it year after year with his performances, so very pleased to have him in our team.”
Meanwhile, Penha put in an impressive performance of his own, pulling the strings brilliantly playing as a No.10 and scoring two goals including a bullet strike to give Western the lead late in the contest.
It was arguably one of his best showings since arriving at the club in the off-season, having slowly worked his way back to full match fitness after a serious knee injury kept him on the sidelines at Korean side Daegu.
“We spoke about this before the season that Daniel had been out for a long period with an ACL injury,” Western coach John Aloisi said in his post-game press conference.
“It was going to take him time to get to the level we know he can get to and believe that he can get to. Then I had a bit of a chat with him before the game because he’s feeling that he needs to be the one to to take the team forward.
“I just told him to be calm and enjoy football because, he was out of football for a year and and enjoy the game. I don’t know if my words helped him or not, but you could see that he was outstanding.
“Him and (Ulises) Davila were were both outstanding today.”
Aloisi was asked if Penha’s celebration was a build up of “months of frustration”, after ripping off his shirt shortly following his brilliant goal and flexing towards the fans behind Filip Kurto’s goal.
“I don’t know if it’s months of frustration, obviously he thought he had won the game for us,” Aloisi said.
“But also Daniel’s dealt with some personal issues as well… He’s such a good person and such a good guy that he takes everything on board and feels that he has to support a lot of people.
“But I just want him to enjoy the game because it’s a game that he loves playing. That’s why he came to Australia to enjoy football again and I hope this is a start that he keeps on performing like he did today.”
What this means
Macarthur FC’s wait for a win extends to six straight games, and are in danger of sitting outside the top six by the time Unite Round comes to an end on Sunday.
The Bulls showed plenty of heart to get a point – led by Ulises Davila’s brilliance – but will be relishing having a full six day break to prepare for their next game, after a hectic schedule over the last fortnight that’s seen them play four games in 12 days.
Next up, is a trip to Suncorp Stadium to face Brisbane Roar on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Western United remain bottom of the ladder, missing a great opportunity to breathe some life into their season with a win.
John Aloisi would again be encouraged with the manner of their performances, but defensive lapses at key points cost them yet again. They will next be in action on January 27 when they face Western Sydney Wanderers.
