The Griffiths brothers both scored to rescue a point for Beijing Guoan after Brendon Santalab helped Chengdu Blades to a two-goal lead as the sides drew 2-2 in the Chinese Super League.The result means Guoan missed the chance to return to the top of the table with leaders Shandong Luneng losing 3-2 to Changchun Yatai, but it could have been worse for Beijing.
Chengdu's Agnaldo had given the visitors a 14th minute lead after a mazy run inside the box, before Joel Griffiths smacked a shot into the upright in the first-half.
But Santalab, who joined Chengdu recently from A-League outfit North Queensland Fury, scored his second goal for his new club with a strong header on 34 minutes after a fine move.
With Beijing's title hopes on the line, boss Lee Jang-Soo desperately turned to Ryan Griffiths, introducing the Australian as a substitute on 52 minutes.
And Ryan delivered, producing a trademark long-range strike on 71 minutes to bring Beijing back into the match. The goal was reminiscent of another by Griffiths which nestled into the top corner back in May against Changchun Yatai.
Then with two minutes of regulation time to go, Joel tried a speculative angled effort from inside the box and the shot crept past Chengdu stopper Lan Yi and into the corner to set off wild celebrations for the hosts.
Nevertheless, Guoan's failure to win means they miss the chance to go top, although they move to within one point of Shandong at the top of the table.
Elsewhere in the CSL, Mark Milligan came off the bench on 38 minutes as Shanghai Shenhua crashed to a 2-0 home loss against Jonas Salley's Shaanxi Chanba.
In Korea's K-League Cup, Antun Kovacic's Ulsan Horang were eliminated at the semi-final stage after losing 1-0 on Wednesday to Busan I'Park and 3-1 on aggregate. Busan will play Pohang Steelers in the two-legged final in September.
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