Fresh off a last-minute come-from-ahead loss to FC Dallas last week, Sporting Kansas City desperately needed some good news in Sunday night's match-up against the Los Angele Galaxy.
Some good news came late in the form of a Frankie Hejduk handball.
Hejduk handled a cross in the penalty area to set up an Omar Bravo stoppage time penalty kick that helped Sporting KC salvage a 2-2 draw at Livestrong Sporting Park on Sunday.
The Galaxy looked on their way to victory when David Beckham set up Sean Franklin for his second goal of the day to give Los Angeles a 2-1 lead, but Bravo's late penalty helped KC earn a point to move a step closer to Columbus Crew for first place in the Eastern Conference.
Los Angeles played without Robbie Keane, away on international duty, while Landon Donovan was limited to a substitute's role after playing 90 minutes in the U.S. national team's 1-0 loss to Costa Rica on Friday. Sporting Kansas City played without Kei Kamara, who was also away on national team duty with Sierre Leone.
Franklin opened the scoring in the first half on what looked to be an offside play, but Sporting KC defender Aurelien Collin kept Franklin onside.
KC responded in the second half on a Julio Cesar goal before Franklin added his second tally of the night. Collin would take part in another controversial play when he scored an apparent equalizer on a header only to have the goal ruled offside. Replays showed that Collin was, in fact, ahead of the last defender.
Sporting KC got a reprieve in the stoppage time when Hejduk handled a cross in the penalty area, setting up a Bravo penalty.
The tie pushed Sporting KC to 9-8-10, two points clear of Houston in second place in the East. The Galaxy moved to 14-3-10, four points clear of Seattle atop the West.
What did you think of the match? Feel it was a fair result? Did you think the officials were terrible, or did you think they had a good game?
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