Fahid Ben Khalfallah managed to gift Melbourne Victory a 1-1 draw with Adelaide United by scoring with two minutes left to play in their A-League clash.
Adelaide burst out of the blocks in the early stages of the clash and won the first corner of the game, but the ball into the area was easily cleared by Victory.
Bruce Djite almost found the breakthrough for Adelaide when some sloppy defending from Victory allowed the forward to latch on to a pass, but his chance was snuffed out by the goalkeeper.
The best opportunity of the game came in the 15th minute when Victory's Kosta Barbarouses got in behind the defence to send the ball into the feet of Gui Finkler, but he mishit the volley and the ball flew wide of goal.
Both sides grew frustrated in the final third as Adelaide created a good chance through Cirico, but Victory's defence were able to get across in time to stop the forward from getting a shot on goal.
With just five minutes remaining of the first half, the home side came close to scrambling the ball into the back of the net, but Nigel Boogaard's follow-up shot was deflected for a corner.
Cirio should have been celebrating a goal when the ball floated into the box from the corner flag, but his diving header towards an open goal was saved.
After the break, Djite was once again involved for Adelaide when he delivered a header towards goal from a set piece, but the goalkeeper was able to latch on to the ball to prevent any danger.
Minutes later, Marcelo Carrusca stormed towards the byline and slid the ball towards the near post, but the keeper was able to drop down and gather before Djite could latch on to the ball for a tap-in.
The Adelaide forward once again tried to break the deadlock by creating a chance out of nowhere when he seemed to be second to the ball.
Djite managed to launch a shot across goal, but the ball bobbled past the keeper and out for a goal kick.
As the clock ticked down, Cirio was able to find space in the box to slot the ball past Nathan Coe and looked like he had nabbed the winner for the home side until Ben Khalfallah found the back of the net with two minutes left to play to share the spoils.
Danielle Joynson
