VANCOUVER – At the end of a bad week, the Vancouver Whitecaps were injury-time away Saturday from moving into a Major League Soccer playoff spot for the first time since July 14.

But after surrendering a 90th-minute equalizer when they were up a goal and a man, squandering two precious points in a 2-2 draw against the New York Red Bulls at B.C. Place Stadium, you wonder how the Whitecaps will ever make the playoffs defending as poorly as they do.

Many things have contributed to a tumultuous Whitecaps’ season that included a 5-2 humiliation Wednesday against Toronto FC in the final leg of the Canadian Championship. But Vancouver’s inability to defend, to keep the ball out of its net at crucial times – or any time – is the biggest problem.

With the powerful Red Bulls down to 10 players after defender Michael Murillo was sent off for a pair of cynical fouls against Whitecap teenager Alphonso Davies, New York snatched a tie when Daniel Royer ran unmarked behind Davies and Brek Shea to smash in Tyler Adams’ free kick.

The goal spoiled what had been a resilient evening for the Whitecaps and, especially, central defender Kendall Waston.

While all the pre-match attention was on the Vancouver centre-back who was mysteriously and contentiously traded to the Red Bulls, Tim Parker, it was former partner Waston who scored twice from corner kicks to put the Whitecaps in a position to win. On both goals, in the 42nd and 60th minutes, Waston outjumped Parker to score with his head.

Vancouver had not scored from a corner all season.

And still, the Whitecaps left the game disappointed, despite improving their playoff push to 2-0-2 in their last four MLS games.

"It’s hard, it’s difficult to handle it," Waston said of the late tying goal. "But we’ve got to keep fighting until the end. Nothing is impossible. These nine last games that we have, they’re all finals.

"I’d rather win than score one or two goals, to be honest. Today was a match that was a little bit difficult in the way we didn’t perform as how we would have liked. But one point still helps us to continue to fight to get into the playoffs."

Three points would have put them back in playoff position.

The Whitecaps’ next two games are against the San Jose Earthquakes, easily the worst team in MLS.

"It’s a good point for us," Vancouver coach Carl Robinson insisted. "I know people will say, ‘Yeah, it’s two thrown away.’ But before the game, we had none. Now we have one point on the board. And if you can take points when you don’t play really well, which we didn’t in the first half, you take them in the final stretch."

Vancouver is ranked 20th among 23 MLS teams in goals allowed. The Whitecaps have failed to replace Parker by committee in the middle of defence, and the goals they surrendered Saturday were symptomatic of their season.

On the first, just five minutes into the game, Whitecaps centre-back Aaron Maund was beaten by a long ball over the top to Bradley Wright-Phillips. His early, low cross could have been played either by defender Jake Nerwinski or Vancouver goalie Stefan Marinovic. But neither got to it – it should have been Marinovic’s at the top of the six-yard box – and Royer had a tap in.

The marking was even worse on Royer’s second goal. Too often this season, Whitecap defenders have stood anchored to a spot rather than attack a cross, and too often Marinovic has left his defenders to deal with balls that should be his. The winning goal was scored from about four yards out, just beyond the back post.

"I take blame for that (first) goal," Nerwinski said. "I need to clear that. I need to take charge. Even if I think Stef can get it… next time I’m just hitting it as hard as I can. We were both just kind of leaving it for each other, I think. We didn’t take charge and that’s what happened."

Marinovic redeemed himself with two huge stops when it was 1-1 early in the second half. First he brilliantly pushed Alex Muyl’s point-blank header on to the crossbar in the 48th minute, then three minutes later quickly dashed off his line to block Wright-Phillips’ shot from 12 yards out after Waston was beaten.

"I think it’s just individual errors we’re making," Robinson said. "It’s not just one person but across the board. When you make an error you want to stay in your position rather than play positive and stay on the front foot. Sometimes it just comes down to a lack of confidence in your decision-making.

"We’re working day to day on trying to get that right. I think we defended very well against a very good team. Yeah, we’re disappointed we conceded in the last minute. But after the first-half performance, if you’d said we’d have drawn the game, I probably would have taken a point. I’ll take it as a positive point against a very good team."

As Robinson said, others may see it differently.