A sweet volley from substitute Fahid Ben Khalfallah gave Melbourne Victory a 1-1 draw with bitter foe Adelaide United in Friday night’s A-League fixture.
Khalfallah scored with five minutes remaining – and just minutes after Adelaide’s Sergio Cirio scored before a record crowd for an A-League game in Adelaide.
Rolling Stone guitarist Ronnie Wood, in town for a concert next weekend, was among the 33,126 spectators at Adelaide Oval.
The total eclipsed the city’s previous record of 25,039 set at the same venue in 2007.
The masses got no satisfaction for much of the grudge match which lacked real venom until the canny Cirio scored.
The Spaniard cut inside Victory captain Mark Milligan and netted a stylish right-footer from 10 metres out in the 85th minute.
But just three minutes later, Victory sub Khalfallah equalised in stunning fashion: from a Gui Finkler corner, he directed a crisp volley into the top of the net to stun the parochial Adelaide crowd.
Both clubs remain unbeaten after season-opening wins last weekend.
In the tame opening half, Melbourne’s Finkler sprayed the best scoring chance in the 16th minute when, in space and 10 metres out, he blasted a right footer wide of the target.
Adelaide’s best moments of the first half came in a minute – consecutive corners in the 41st minute produced successive goal mouth scrambles which the Victory defence held out.
The second half featured slightly more bite with Adelaide striker Bruce Djite a central figure.
The Reds’ frontman blew a scoring chance in the 47th minute when his free header sailed straight to Melbourne goalkeeper Nathan Coe.
Some 15 minutes, Djite swivelled onto his right-foot but the shot edged across the goal face.
They were the only genuine chances until Cirio and Khalfallah enlivened the encounter.
Adelaide United coach Josep Gombau said a draw was a fair result but lamented missed scoring chances.
“We had the best chances to score in the second half but, in the end, football is about putting the ball in the net and we didn’t,” he said.
Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat said his side failed to find any flow.
“We’re a little bit disappointed that we really didn’t get into our groove,” he said.
“It was a quick pitch out there. It was really, really quick and we could have adjusted to it better.”
