By: Eric He

The San Jose Earthquakes have been stuck in quicksand the last two matches, earning consecutive draws, the latest one being a 1-1 tie with the Montreal Impact at Avaya Stadium on Wednesday night.

Despite the Impact playing down a man for about half the game after Ambroise Oyongo tripped up Matias Perez Garcia and earned a red card, the Earthquakes failed to net more than the one goal and missed an opportunity to gain some much-needed ground in the Western Conference playoff race.

It was all good early when Chris Wondolowski struck 35 minutes into the match. Impact goalkeeper Eric Kronberg’s toss resulted in a turnover and wound up in the back of the net after a right-footed strike by Wondolowski.

The red card for the Impact’s Oyongo came in the 49th minute, but the Impact managed to equalize despite being down a man.

With his left foot, Kyle Bekker netted his first goal of the season in the 64th minute, sending a curling shot that evaded Earthquakes keeper David Bingham, who probably came too far out of the box. On a bounce, the ball skipped into the goal to even the score.

Despite late pressure from the Earthquakes, who outshot the Impact 16-8, had 11 shots on target, and out possessed the Impact 63.8 percent to 36.2 percent, the game ended in a disappointing draw.

San Jose has 40 points, one back of Portland in the West for the sixth and final playoff spot with five matches to play. Up next will be a matchup against NYCFC on Saturday in New York City.