J-League champions Urawa Red Diamonds came back from two goals down to draw with Sydney FC as Kawasaki Frontale's blushes were spared by a late own goal in the AFC Champions League on Wednesday.
Sydney looked on course for a second win in two group matches when they found themselves two-up after 23 minutes.
But Urawa pulled one back through Robson Ponte in the 30th minute before Sydney 'keeper Clint Bolton spilled the ball in front of Yuchiro Nagai, allowing him to poke home a second-half equalizer to make it 2-2.
Urawa and Sydney are level on points at the top of Group E with four rounds remaining, ahead of Persik Kediri, who stunned bottom-placed Shanghai Shenhua.
A second-half strike from Persik's Bertha Yuana condemned Shanghai to a shock defeat and their second of the competition after losing to Sydney on the opening day.
Kawasaki Frontale, runners-up to Urawa in the J-League, also came from behind but in very different circumstances as they needed an own goal to scrape a 1-1 draw with lowly Bangkok University.
Trailing Suriya Domtaisong's early opener, Frontale struggled to break down the visitors until Patiparn Phetphun put a cross past his own 'keeper 12 minutes from time.
Frontale top Group F with the same points as Chunnam Dragons, who also drew with Bangkok but got their campaign back on track on with a 2-0 win against Arema Malang on Wednesday.
Kim Tae-su and Sandro Cardoso were both on target in the second half to see off some determined resistance from the Indonesians.
RSS