Suburbs were two goals to the good after 31 minutes, but a quick response from Steve Martin had them back in the game.

The match came to a controversial close deep into injury time when substitute Simon Lamanda scored the winner from what the Suburbs player claimed was an offside position.

But the referee waved away their protests and the goal stood, sealing a point for the Zebras.

The result could easily have been different had Western Suburbs converted any of a number of gilt-edged second half chances, but instead they will have to be content with a draw.

The first real chance of the game came in the 7th minute when Goran Talevski went wide with a volley after Suburbs had failed to clear the ball from a corner.

Sebastian Petrovic should have given the Zebras the lead minutes later when he ran onto the ball in space after Dimi Hatzimouratis had given it up in midfield. But the midfielder skied his shot with the outside of his boot.

The match turned in the 14th minute after Ivan Razov was stretchered off with a possible broken leg.

This seemed to spur Suburbs on however, and they took the lead on 20 minutes thanks to a stunning strike from captain Terry Antoniadis.

The Zebras defence failed to clear a long ball, allowing Antoniadis to burst through and unleash a dipping volley that left Whittlesea keeper Robert Simeoni rooted to the spot.

And it was 2-0 on 33 minutes when John Cvetanoski doubled their advantage from the spot.

Zebra’s defender Mark Vazzochi handled on the edge of the area, and Cvetanoski calmly slotted home the penalty.

But just a minute later, Whittlesea had pulled one back.

A looping free kick deceived everyone, including Suburbs keeper Stjepan Gal, and somehow found its way into the back of the net.

Milan Batur nearly restored the two goal advantage just before half time, but his header was saved off the line by Zebra’s midfielder James Sherman.

Tomi Razov also went close with the last kick of the half, a searing volley that was just wide of the post.

The first chance of the second half went to the Zebras, with Goran Talevski shooting wide after Jerry Karpeh had laid it off.

Dimi Hatzimouratis could have extended Suburbs’ lead in the 71st minute, but his flick on from Lorenz Kindtner’s cross was straight at Simeoni.

While Whittlesea had the bulk of possession they were proving no real threat on goal.

The Zebra’s pushed forward in search of a late equaliser and nearly found one through Ross Antoniadis deep into injury time. But the defender’s low shot was brilliantly saved by Gal diving to his left.

Jean-Phillipe Javary should have sealed the game in the 90th minute when he found himself one-on-one with the keeper but he shot over the bar.

And then with just seconds remaining substitute Simon Lamanda found the equaliser, poking home past Stjepan Gal to secure a point for the Zebras.

Despite the result, Western Suburbs coach Ken Murphy has been pleased with his side’s effort the past two weeks.

“If you concede two goals it’s always going to be hard to win the game, but if you miss two or three yourself then that’s just as bad,” Murphy said.

“Once we got our rhythm we dominated the play.

“We looked solid defensively and had some good build up play.

“If you take the result out I’m pretty pleased with the performance.”

Words: Lachlan Taylor