Wellington Phoenix skipper Ulises Davila missed a 90th minute penalty as his side's playoff hopes took a setback with a 2-2 draw against Perth Glory.
The Phoenix were playing in front of 22,233 thunderous supporters at Eden Park - a venue where they are still yet to lose at in eight matches - as they set a club record 10-game unbeaten run, but they couldn't pick up the vital three points they desperately needed.
The Phoenix opened the scoring through Tomer Hemed - who scored his 10th goal in 13 appearances - before two quick goals from Bruno Fornaroli and Callum Timmins had the visitors in front.
Substitute Joshua Sotirio scored a cracking curling effort to level the scores before Davila missed a crucial penalty.
The home side finished with a flurry of opportunities and more penalty shouts but they weren't able to find the winner, so they had to settle for a point.
The result means the Phoenix now need to beat Macarthur away on Friday and hope results go their way if they're to sneak into the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
Wellington looked to have made a perfect start when they were awarded a penalty after Tim Payne was brought down in the area two minutes into the first half, but the decision was overturned on review after a lengthy consultation.
Perth had the better of the opening 20 minutes with All White Dane Ingam looking dangerous down the left-hand side and veteran Diego Castro testing Phoenix goalkeeper Oliver Sail.
But it was the home side that opened the scoring after 25-minutes, when Reno Piscopo skipped clear of a tackle and fired a pass out to Louis Fenton. He cut the ball back for Hemed who launched a rocket strike past former Phoenix goalkeeper Liam Reddy.
Wellington dominated the rest of the first half with Hemed firing a header just wide and Piscopo forcing Reddy into a smart save.
After being happy to play on the counter-attack for much of the first half, Perth came out with much more intent for the second period.
The Glory leveled the scores after 61-minutes, when the always-dangerous Bruno Fornaroli ran onto a lovely through ball from Castro to finish perfectly past the outstretched Sail.
15-minutes later, the visitors took the lead through a goal of the season contender, when Callum Timmins unleashed a bomb from 25-metres out that flew into the top corner.
This sparked the Phoenix into life and they equalised just five-minutes later when Sotorio fired in a low curling shot into the bottom corner to set up a grandstand finish as both sides hunted for the crucial three-points.
Wellington had a glorious opportunity to take the lead when Cameron Devlin was bundled over in the penalty area in the 87th-minute.
Davila stepped up but Reddy guessed right and saved low down to his left.
The Phoenix threw everything at the Glory in stoppage time with Davila forcing a save from Reddy before they thought they had two penalty shouts waved away by referee Alex King.
The first was for handball when Castro blocked a Davila shot with his arm before Fenton was pushed over by Glory defender Darryl Lachman in the box but both decisions were ignored to the bemusement of Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay.
"From where I saw it the penalty was on Louis [Fenton]," Talay says. "The ball was delivered over and the player didn't have any intention for the ball and just gave a bit of nudge in the back.
"The handballs are the handballs but the handball rule, I still haven't worked out this season, so I can't really comment on that one."
The Phoenix had to settle for a thrilling point and move one-point behind Macarthur who they play on Friday in a match that will decide their playoff hopes.
