A late defensive blunder proved costly for the Magic with South striker Fernando De Moraes pouncing to equalise in the 86th minute to break the hearts of the home fans.

"We were a bit unlucky in the end," Magic captain and central midfielder Pece Sivevski said. "It was a split- second decision and we failed to clear the ball."

The Magic settled into a new-season groove a little quicker than South.

Their early onslaught reaped benefits with Tony Saric breaking the deadlock at 30 minutes.

South goalkeeper Peter Zois, a former Magic player, cleared a cross with a punch only to land the ball at the feet of Saric, who side-footed into the net from the edge of the penalty box.

"We were playing well at that point," Sivevski said.

"The players were well-drilled, well organised and were following the coaches' instructions."

The Magic took a 1-0 lead into half-time.

In a blow for the Magic, forward Koce Delev limped off with a hamstring injury at half-time and didn't return.

The injury is likely to rule him out of Sunday's round-two encounter with the Sunshine Georgies at Knights Stadium.

South, rated one of the favourites to take out the title this winter after a strong recruiting campaign, began to assert their authority in the second half.

The Magic counter-attacked with a number of chances falling to Saric and Bahrain import Ali Sanad, but neither could find the back of the net.

Then the moment came which all Magic fans were dreading: substitute De Moraes was sent a through-ball to be one-on-one with Magic goalkeeper Tommy Tomich after a defensive error and he looped it into the net.

Despite missing out on a clean sheet, former Perth Glory A-League gloveman Tomich was outstanding between the sticks.

The result, a share of the points, was just about right after 90 minutes.

"I think it was a fair result," Sivevski said.

"We all did our jobs. I thought it was a good team effort."