Bunyodkor battle back in Adelaide

Uzbekistan's Bunyodkor came from behind to claim a 2-2 draw away to ten-man Adelaide United in their quarter-final first leg tie in the AFC Champions League. Adelaide, finalists in 2008, looked to be in command with a 2-0 lead in the opening 18 minutes through goals by Iain Ramsay and Evan Kostopoulos, but the match turned on a 42nd-minute incident which reduced the home side to ten men. Defender Nigel Boogaard was shown the red card for bringing down Kamoliddin Murzoev, who was through on goal with only goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic to beat. Jasur Khasanov scored directly from the resulting free kick with a brilliant left-foot strike to the top right-hand corner, leaving the Uzbeks trailing 2-1 at half-time. It was all Bunyodkor in the second half and they equalised in the 75th minute when Shavkat Salomov pounced on a missed clearance from defender Iain Fyfe to beat Galekovic from close range. Bunyodkor could have taken a one-goal advantage to their home second leg in Tashkent on 3 October, only to be denied by a brave block from defender Antony Golec at the near post in stoppage time. Bunyodkor, who have yet to beat Adelaide United in three meetings in this season's ACL, have two potentially decisive away goals in their favour for the home second leg to progress to the semi-finals of the Asian showpiece. "We played them off the park for the first 30-40 minutes," Adelaide coach John Kosmina said. "But we did not take our chances and allowed them back into the game. We got a bit too complacent and comfortable at 2-0, but I am confident we can go over to Uzbekistan and get a result." FIFA