Galaxy Falters Near the End

The Galaxy wasted a chance to solidify its hold on second place in the Western Conference, suffering a late meltdown Saturday night.

Davy Arnaud and Josh Wolff scored goals in the 81st and 86th minutes to rally the Kansas City Wizards to a 2-2 tie with the Galaxy in a Major League Soccer game.

The Galaxy (11-11-6) could have moved five points ahead of FC Dallas -- which plays Real Salt Lake today -- but instead left its lead at three.

L.A. did not start several regulars, including goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, Cobi Jones, Peter Vagenas, Ned Grabavoy and Pablo Chinchilla. Hartman was replaced by Steve Cronin and had his consecutive match streak in MLS games end at 93. Grabavoy also did not play.

“We got some of our older guys in there at the end to kill the game off and thought we could come out with three points,” said Galaxy defender Chris Albright, who scored in the 26th minute. “At the same time coming in here, we normally don’t get any points, so getting a point here at this stage is OK. The way the game was, it was disappointing, but we will take it.”

The shuffled lineup didn’t slow the Galaxy in the first half as the team scored two goals off Landon Donovan corner kicks.

The first came when Albright controlled a cross and poked a shot past Kansas City goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi.

In the 36th minute, Herculez Gomez scored his eight goal of the season after Oshoniyi missed Donovan’s cross, allowing Gomez to head it into the net.

Oshoniyi did come up big in second-half injury time when he deflected away a shot by Jones.

“We were disappointed to go in at halftime down two goals,” Wolff said, “but it’s a testament of our team that we were able to grind it out.”

Kansas City is 11-7-10.