The Wellington Phoenix have drawn 1-1 with Western Sydney Wanderers in their first game since their painful defeat to Western United last month, as the A-League paused for three weeks for Football World Cup Qatar.
Bulgarian international Bozhidar Kraev nodded the Nix in front an hour into the match after a scoreless first-half which Wellington dominated.
But Western Sydney finished the stronger of the two sides and Congolese striker Yeni Ngbakoto drew Wanderers level from a free-kick in the 79th minute.
It is the Phoenix's fourth draw from seven matches and moves the men up to sixth on the ladder, at least temporarily.
Phoenix head coach Ufuk Talay had mixed feelings after the match.
"Disappointed in the way that we conceded," Talay said. "To be honest it was a great delivery that evaded everybody, even Oli, and it ended up in the back of the net. But overall, I thought we played some good football."
Ufuk Talay made four changes to the XI which started the team's defeat to Western United last month, with David Ball, Yan Sasse, Lucas Mauragis and Tim Payne replacing Kosta Barbarouses, Ben Old, Sam Sutton and Josh Laws, who all started the match from the bench.
