Striker Han Duan's injury time goal salvaged coach Ma Liangxing's debut to help hosts China earn a lucky 1-1 draw with France in their first match at the Four Nation Women's Soccer Tournament 2006 China on Wednesday.

After a lackluster first half, both teams launched more fierce attacks in the second one. Striker Ma Xiaoxu missed several chances, including a one-to-one drive facing an outing Bouhaddi Sarah.

France opened the scoring on 73 minutes with midfielder Bussaglia Elise's sharp drive at the edge of the box. The guests almost doubled the advantage two minutes later, but Lattaf Hoda's cunning lob hit the crossbar.

China piled on the pressure in the last phase and created some good opportunities. However, it's not until the stoppage time did they level the score.

"We had a good match today against an excellent team with high quality and techniques. The team is pretty new and we have many problems in the midfield, so we used some long balls to threaten their defense. And that works," said coach Ma Liangxing after the game.

"I must thank all the players to level the score. I feel happy with the result."

"We had some good performance with a well-organized team. They have the technique and the speed. We feel unlucky for the last goal, but it's really a high tempo game," said French coach Loisel Elisabeth.

Source: Xinhua