Perth Glory will return to West Australia with a nascent sense of momentum after holding Melbourne City to a 2-2 draw at AAMI Park.
Playing their final fixture before finally being allowed to head across the Nullarbor and play games in West Australia, goals from Bruno Fornaroli and Callum Timmins helped coach Richard Garcia’s side erase a two-goal deficit provided by Florin Berenguer and Mat Leckie.
A point in hand, they can now return home to prepare to face Adelaide United on Sunday and end a 106-day road trip in which the squad has been ravaged by both injury and COVID.
Though back top of the ALM on goal difference, Wednesday’s draw saw City’s three-game winning streak snapped, while second-place Western United now have two games in hand.
Next to face Wellington on Sunday, City led after just eight minutes when Berenguer, newly minted with a one-year contract extension, collected a Leckie cross and struck from an acute angle.
Surviving a strong Timmins effort in the 18th-minute, City had their second in the 29th after Connor Metcalfe fed Leckie to fire home his sixth goal in seven matches.
Leckie’s night would end in the 43rd minute when he was forced from the ground with an injury, but not before Glory struck in the 31st when Kosuke Ota floated a cross to Fornaroli for a close-range header.
Glory then dragged it back level in the 56th minute when Jack Clisby teed Timmins up to strike at goal with enough venom that, although able to get a hand to it, Tom Glover couldn’t keep out.
Both sides had chances in the final half an hour as the game opened up with City’s Carl Jenkinson enjoying the best of them, but neither team could find a winner.
