A second half Ellen White wonder goal earned Arsenal Ladies a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Champions League quarter final tie against Swedish side Linkopings.
By David Brenchley
The Gunners, though, had goalkeeper Emma Byrne to thank for keeping the score at 1-0 at the break after a string of impressive saves.
Linda Sallstrom gave the visitors a precious away goal after just 15 minutes when she raced onto a ball over the top to fire across goal and give Byrne no chance.
Arsenal were then spurred into action and were the better side in the second half but could only find the net once. White's strike was almost a carbon copy of the opener; Niamh Fahey played a tantalising ball over the top and White struck it on the volley and over keeper Sofia Lundgren.
The home side made the brighter start with Rachel Yankey and White both getting early sightings of the ball on the wings but could not forge out any decent goal scoring opportunities.
Byrne's first save came within the opening 10 minutes when she foiled Sallstrom at the edge of the area before Linkopings grabbed their goal.
The Ireland number one was then called into action twice more, both from Kathryn Gill, who was impressive on her debut; one a header and the other a tame effort that should have been put the Swedes out of sight.
The best chance Arsenal had in the first period was carved out by the ever-impressive White, who jinked past a defender, along the byline and pulled it back to Kim Little whose shot on the turn was blocked.
Buoyed on by a half time rocket from manager Laura Harvey, the home side came out much more composed but still struggled to create many clear-cut chances.
Byrne was, yet again, called into action to foil Ingrid Schjolderup before a long range volley from Katie Chapman was easily gathered by Lundgren.
Sallstrom was then played through and had the goal at her mercy but Byrne somehow managed to get something on the shot to take it behind for a corner.
The equalising goal came just after the hour mark through Fahey's excellent vision and White's superb finish and substitute Julie Fleeting had a last gasp attempt to grab a winner but she was falling back and put it over the bar.
A young Linkopings side were pleased with the result and will go back to Sweden next week with an away goal. Womensportreport will have reaction from both managers and captains soon.
