Bobo scored the equaliser from the spot on 81 minutes after a tug on his jersey by defender Michael Jakobsen inside the box saw him hit the turf. Replays showed contact was minimal.

Earlier, Josh Brillante received his second yellow card in controversial circumstances following his challenge on Neil Kilkenny at the 73rd minute.

But van’t Schip described the decision by referee Kris Griffiths Jones as a get square for the red.

“I think in my opinion – everyone has his own opinion… of course – it wasn’t a penalty,” van’t Schip said.

“I think it’s compensating the red card If you look back there was no contact, hardly contact and for me it was no penalty."

A-League coaches have been in hot water this season for questioning the integrity of matchay decisions.

The City boss conceded his team didn't make the most of the numerical advantage.

“I think we could have played better today, we didn’t play at our best level, but we’re still improving, we’re getting players in like Nicolas Colazo who has played his third game now, playing 90 minutes, we had Ivan Franjic, he was out last week who was in this week.”

The Dutchman’s men hit the lead in the second half against the run of play courtesy of Fernando Brandan’s long range screamer.

The City boss felt they should’ve sent Sydney to its first A-League defeat after edging the Sky Blues in the FFA Cup Final last week.

“(We’re) disappointed that we couldn’t hold the 1-0 until the end against 10 men and knowing that you can close the gap (on the table),” he said.

“That’s of course something that we were looking forward to and we didn’t achieve that.

“Coming to Sydney and knowing that it is always going to be a hard game with a team that was on top, I think the league is long enough to close that gap… and we’re going to improve, we’re going to get better… Next week is a big game ahead of us.

“We had Ruon Tongyik who played a very good game for his first 90 minutes, his debut actually, Brandan played a good game, so there are a lot of positive signs.”

City play crosstown rivals Melbourne Victory next Saturday in the traditional Christmas Melbourne Derby.