The Socceroos have rescued a point from the jaws of defeat in a frantic finale to earn a 2-2 draw with Bahrain in Riffa.
Kusini Yengi put the Socceroos ahead in 38 seconds, capitalising on a horrible error at the back.
He then hit the post in the second half and missed another golden chance, before two goals in as many minutes from substitute Mahdi Abduljabbar stunned the Socceroos.
Abduljabbar launched a speculative strike from 40 yards after an error from Cameron Burgess, before pouncing on a rebound after a cross was deflected onto the post to send the home fans into delirium.
Yengi's leveller six minutes into stoppage time rescued the Socceroos blushes, sending them one point clear of the pack in second place in their World Cup qualification pool.
[Summary]With Saudi Arabia's shock 2-0 defeat against Indonesia hanging over the group, a victory for the Socceroos could have created some daylight between the Aussies and the rest of the pack.
And, after just 38 seconds it looked like the Socceroos were well on track to do just that.
Yengi's assured finish from a gift of an error by Sayed Baqer at the back, his backpass woefully short, leaving Ebrahim Lutfalla stranded.
But that opening provided false hope, the Socceroos once again wasteful in front of goal, with Yengi in particular guilty of a number of missed chances, that eventually came back to bite them.
"There were a couple of really good of chances to make it 2-0 in the second half that we didn't capitalise on," Tony Popovic told Paramount Plus after the match.
"I would have liked [Yengi] to have scored that one at 1-0 when the ball was cut back because I think that would have been game over.
"We gave away a couple of goals quickly and then showed great character to get back
"It's an important point, keeps us in second place and we move forward to the next window."
Yengi was denied once by the woodwork, once by the goalkeeper and again by the Bahrain defence as the Socceroos looked in control despite the narrow lead.
However, Abduljabbar's two magical goals stunned the Socceroos and saw them staring down the barrel of just a second ever defeat to Bahrain, following from the shock 1-0 reverse at home on the Gold Coast in September.
Yengi, despite his earlier misses, managed to scramble home the equaliser during a lengthy period of stoppage time to spare the Socceroos blushes for what would have been a shocking second defeat to Bahrain in this qualification period.
The result further complicates the Socceroos' path to automatic qualification, with barely any room for error for Popovic's side.
When qualification resumes in the new year, the Socceroos will host Indonesia and Japan either side of a trip to China, facing a tough trip to Saudi Arabia in the final game.
[Socceroos WCQ Table]Look back on how all the action unfolded in our live blog.
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