The benching of Socceroos forward Brandon Borrello has done little to spark Western Sydney out of their A-League Men slumber, as the Wanderers played out a 1-1 draw with Melbourne City.
Gary van Egmond's side remain bottom of the ladder - three points behind the Central Coast Mariners - after Aziz Behich and Bozhidar Kraev traded second-half goals on Saturday.
The Wanderers have won just two of their past 10 games and are on track to pick up their first wooden spoon, a point underlined by the sparse crowd of just 5081 at CommBank Stadium.
Van Egmond had promised no loyalty in a bid to stop the club's wretched run, and the Wanderers' horrendous 4-1 defeat against Sydney FC gave him a mandate to make changes.
Borrello was dropped to the bench for the first time in his Wanderers career after registering just one goal in 12 games.
Van Egmond also turned to a three-man defence, which appeared to free up Angus Thurgate and give the Wanderers more threats out wide.
"Sometimes the starting team can set the finishing team up in regards to the result at times," van Egmond said.
"It's important that the people that come on are going to contribute and make a difference and make a change.
"I think it's a good idea for him to come into the game where it's a little bit more tired, so from a confidence perspective ... he can gain that by impacting later on in the game."
The early signs were encouraging when a shot from Ayman Hammond sailed just wide of Patrick Beach's post, before Ryan Fraser and Thurgate had shots blocked.
Hammond went close to grabbing the opener when he charged down Beach after Samuel Soupreyan passed backwards to the unsuspecting City goalkeeper.
City struggled to pose much of a threat to the Wanderers in the first half except for a couple of menacing runs in behind the home side's defence from Marcus Younis.
Aurelio Vidmar's side played with much better intent after halftime, but lacked a cutting edge in the final third.
Behich took matters into his own hands soon after van Egmond had thrown Borrello and Kraev into the mix.
The City left-back surged on to a loose ball and drove into the box, where he finished past Wanderers goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas in the 65th minute.
The Wanderers pushed forward looking for an equaliser, and found it through Kraev.
The Bulgarian glanced a Thurgate free-kick beyond Beach's reach and into the back of the net in the 77th minute.
Wanderers goalkeeping coach Chris Bowling was sent off in the dying stages after appearing to throw a clipboard.
Vidmar, whose side sit seventh, said: "Normally you would come here and take a point and be pretty content with that, but it doesn't serve us too much with where we're sitting on the table at the moment."
