A long-range piledriver from Catherine Zimmerman has secured Melbourne Victory a 2-2 draw with Adelaide United in the A-League Women's first Pride Cup that all but ended the Reds' finals hopes.
Placed in an early deficit by Melina Ayres' seventh-minute opener, the visitors rallied and led at halftime thanks to goals from Meisha Westland and Chelsie Dawber, all the while repulsing numerous Victory attacks.
"We were pretty up and down," said Victory boss Jeff Hopkins.
"We gave away a couple of quite sloppy goals.
"Our intensity and quality with and without the ball just wasn't good enough in the first half.
"We probably deserved to come in 2-1 down."
With pressure mounting at AAMI Park, Zimmerman found space in the 71st minute and launched an effort from more than 30 yards out from goal that soared over the head of goalkeeper Annalee Grove and into the top corner.
Attempting to rally again but this time unable to find a response, the visitors remain in ninth with the draw and are now nine points back of the playoff places with five games remaining in their season.
Adding further difficulty, fifth-placed Canberra and and sixth-placed Perth retain games in hand.
"Realistically, it probably makes it really difficult if not ends them," Adelaide coach Adrian Stenta said on his side's finals hopes.
"I'm really proud of the way that the girls put in for the full 90 minutes, ran themselves into the ground and gave them a chance to get the result we were after."
Victory, meanwhile, maintain a three-point gap on the side from the nation's capital, albeit having played one game more.
They had more than enough chances to put the Reds away on Sunday but time and time again failed to convert.
Zimmerman, Elise Kellond-Knight, Alana Murphy, Beattie Goad and Ayres all spurned first-half chances after the latter sent in a ball that Annalee Grove put into her own net.
Between these, the Reds equalised in the 17th when Westland got to a Mindy Barbieri cutback and then led in the 27th when Victory failed to clear a corner and it fell to Dawber for a close-range finish.
Zimmerman had the ball in the back of the net twice early in the second half only to be denied by the offside flag before she fired from range.
Both sides pressed with desperation to find a winner but couldn't break through.
