North Queensland Fury minus marquee striker Robbie Fowler drew 1-1 with Brisbane Roar at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Saturday night.
The former England and English Premier League player refused to take the field and even sit on the bench amid rumours he was unhappy with the 4-3-3 formation chosen for the encounter.
Luke De Vere headed the ball across the face of the goal and the keeper with just enough weight to cross the line and open the scoring in the 49th minute.
David Williams pummelled the ball past the defenceless goalkeeper to level the scores in the 55th minute.
North Queensland had an early setback with Jeremy Brockie stretched off after and taken to hospital with a suspected broken leg after a vicious tackle in the 2nd minute by Michael Zullo, which earned the defender a yellow card.
Brisbane almost had the perfect start when Reinaldo followed up on his shot on goal by cutting the rebounded ball to debutant Stevens Bryce but his strike was blocked by a header on the goal line.
Jason Spagnuolo created the first chance of the night for the hosts in the 21st minute with a cross into the box finding Williams but his volley sailed over the cross bar to the relief of the diving goalkeeper.
Sergio Van Dijk almost capitalised on a lull in the game for the visitors when he casually paused and pulled the trigger from outside the goal box in the 32nd minute but the ball dipped too late and over the net.
The Roar pounced after the beak with Zullo sending a long ball into Van Dijk in the 49th minute which he headed over a defender to De Vere to put into the net.
The Fury responded minutes later but Chris Tadrosse wasted precious seconds with the ball in the box before dribbling past a defender only to find himself buried in the turf sparking calls for a penalty.
Williams didn’t make the same mistake when he picked up a lobbed pass in the 55th minute and drove it into the onion bag.
Dryon Daal almost doubled the score in the 60th minute when he trapped a long ball, turned and with a burst of pace raced through the defence but his shot was wide.
Zullo found himself unmarked wide of the goal box in the 75th minute and the ball was sent his direction but he drove the ball straight into the goalkeeper for an easy save.
Matt Mackay leaped above a pack of defenders on the goal line in the 84th minute to meet a long ball but his header was straight into the post.
The two Queensland sides had opportunites to steal the game in the dying minutes with a free kick from inside the box for Spagnuolo and a last-ditched strike from Van Dijk both missing their targets.
North Queensland Fury (Williams 55)
Brisbane Roar (De Vere 49,)
Crowd 7,610 at Dairy Farmers Stadium