The Englishman equalised after two quickfire SIPG goals had put the Chinese side in front, following Brandon O’Neill’s first-half opener for Sydney. But neither team could find the winner, leaving SIPG two points above the Australian side in Group H.

“We’re disappointed to get the draw and I think we were good value to get the win,” said Le Fondre. “We were pushing all the way and were the team in the ascendancy come the end of the game. We were really disappointed when the full-time whistle went.”

The result leaves the group finely balanced, with just two points separating the teams between second and fourth place.

SIPG’s Zhang Wei had a good early effort saved by Andrew Redmayne as the home side started brightly.

But Sydney worked their way into the match and in the 20th minute, Rhyan Grant’s cross found Adam Le Fondre but the Englishman’s volley went wide.

Siem De Jong’s excellent through ball then found Reza Ghoochannejhad but the angle was tight and Yan Junling came out to smother the shot.

It took just eight minutes for the home side to take the lead as Ulsan conceded for the first time in this year’s tournament. Following a corner, the ball broke to Ryota Oshima at the edge of the Ulsan box.

Oshima played the perfect pass through a crowd of bodies and found Yu Kobayashi, who rifled home from an angle.

But 10 minutes later, Ulsan equalised against the run of play when Sin Jin-ho’s corner from the left dropped for Park Yong-woo to direct home from close range at the far post.

With their hopes of progressing from Group F all but extinguished after their 4-0 loss to Guangzhou on Matchday Three, Kevin Muscat made eight changes to his starting 11 from their A-League game last Friday.

After losing their opening match of the campaign to Guangzhou Evergrande, the Japanese side responded well with back-to-back wins, including a 2-0 win over Daegu on Matchday Three.

Hiroshi Jofuku’s side rode their luck early, however, as the home side had the better of the early chances as Cesinha and then Edgar spurned good chances to open the lead for the Korea Republic side.

Xavi scored his second free-kick – and third goal – in two games as Al Sadd took an early lead at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium before Egor Krimets leveled proceedings as the sides went in level at the interval.

But with the clock ticking down, Baghdad Bounedjah capitalised on a defensive error before slotting home to seal all three points as the 2018 semi-finalists moved to the top of the Group D standings.

Joint leading scorers in this year's AFC Champions League after Monday's Matchday Four fixtures, Jeddah side Al Ittihad could feel somewhat disappointed with the solitary goal to show for their 20 shots registered against PFC Lokomotiv.

Romarinho's 12th minute opener gave hope for a third win in four Continental ties, but Temurkhuja Abdukholiqov restored parity for the hosts nine minutes before half-time and, despite, a barrage of efforts on goal from both sides the score remained 1-1 at full-time.