Arsenal Ladies captain Faye White and manager Laura Harvey both lamented a poor first half during their 1-1 draw with Linkopings and admitted they must be better in the second leg.
By David Brenchley
Linda Sallstrom put the Swedish side a goal up after just 15 minutes, and they could have been out of sight by half time, before Ellen White equalised just after the hour mark.
Gunners skipper White said: "We were a shadow of ourselves in the first half. No one was looking to get on it, we were reacting second and we were quite pedestrian so we rightly got a rocket at half time.
"We were better in the second half but still not as good as we know we can be. We normally do well here, it was a good reaction and we had some good chances.
"We need to score [in the second leg], we know that now, but I think we are capable of it. We just have to play better than we did today."
White also acknowledged goalkeeper Emma Byrne's contribution to the draw, adding: "We could have been three goals down [at half time] but Emma has made some good saves."
The Ireland stopper kept Linkopings at bay during the first half, making saves from Sallstrom and debutant Kathryn Gill, and Harvey also praised her performance.
"It has often been tough for Emma in recent years because she doesn't tend to have to do a lot but when called upon she shows her ability," she said.
"Especially in the first half, she pulled off some saves that, really, she never should have gotten near and that just shows why she is such a top class keeper."
It was a disappointing result for Harvey, though, and she rued the fact that the Gunners could not get Kim Little on the ball enough in the first period.
"We didn't start very well and got what we deserved, which was to be losing. Second half the game changed momentum and we deserved to get a goal back. Now it is finely poised for the second leg.
"We had to bring Kim back a little bit, rather than being the highest player, which meant that she could get on the ball more because she is a threat.
"You try and get your best ball-players on the ball as much as possible and she didn't get on the ball too much in the first half so we had to tweak it a little bit so she could get on it."
Linkopings will go back to Sweden with the advantage of an away goal and coach Jorgen Petersson was pleased with the result.
"I think we had a great first half and we had lots of chances to score more than one goal. Arsenal came back and it was a different game in the seond half. We had to work very hard, which we did," he said.
