The cost of the equalising goal could clearly be seen in the body language of the Athletic squad as they came in at the break.
"Attitudes were down, as we were frustrated to be coming into the break at 1-all," said player coach Troy Smith on the mood of the team.
The second half of the match belonged completely to the visitors, as a well-drilled and cohesive unit took apart the Reds usual control of the game in the middle of the park.
Joe Sowden gave the Reds a glimmer of hope of taking the win, when midway through the second half he smashed the ball into the back of the net with a left footed volley from just outside the box.
But again, Athletic went to sleep defensively, and let the visitors back into the game.
After turning the ball over cheaply at halfway, the Reds were too slow to react, and keeper Nick Hayward was unsuccessful in trying to keep the oncoming attack out of the back of his net.
"The end result was a draw, but it felt like a loss," Smith said afterwards.
"We can only look at ourselves after this result. Twice we had the lead, and twice we let them equalise."
With first spot hovering within grasp, the last thing Athletic would have been wanting was to drop two points and widen the gap between themselves and Team Taranaki.
But with Taranaki picking up a win away on the weekend, the gap between the two teams has now extended to four.
Perhaps there was something in the air on Saturday which put a dampener on the attitudes of the senior teams on Wembley's main pitch, as Wanganui City staggered home to a 2-0 win over the Palmerston North Marist 3rds in their Western Premiership fixture.
It only took 11 minutes for City to open the scoring through Latham Berry, with the home team continuing their usual attacking style, as Jamie Lambe added to the total 10 minutes later.
City created plenty of opportunities for themselves, but were not able to find the back of the net.
Marist kept themselves in the match and never stopped fighting, keeping the score at 2-0 as the whistle sounded for halftime.
"We held onto the ball a little too much instead of just moving it about," City coach Kelvin Francis said of his halftime message.
"I said 'let's just go out there and be positive'."
However the second half saw a completely different approach to the game from the boys in black and yellow as they lacked the composure in front of goal and were not able to control the game in their usual dominant fashion.
Francis chose to break last Monday's successful midfield combination of Chris Annabell and Carl Bond, shifting Annabell into the striker position he played last season.
It didn't take long for Annabell to return to the midfield, however, as City sought to regain the upper hand in the middle of the park.
"They came here wanting to get something from the match," Francis said of the opposition.
"They've improved out of sight from when we first met them in the opening round."
One player who really stood out on Saturday was 15-year-old fullback Marcus Jones, taking the opportunity to play in the higher grades in his stride.
