Armstrong saves Ipswich's treasured record

It could have been worse for Ipswich last night. At half-time in this Uefa Cup first round, first leg match it looked as if they were about to lose a treasured unbeaten home record in Europe stretching back 40 years as they trailed to a little known but deserving Yugoslav side.

That historic grief was avoided thanks to a 56th minute equaliser from Alun Armstrong. But it turned out to be a rare moment of coherence for a team who have much to do in Smederevo, on the outskirts of Belgrade, two weeks from now. The Armoured Ones, as Sartid are known, look capable of withstanding anything the First Division side might deploy against them on their own territory.

It was a far cry from some of Ipswich's famous European efforts on this ground, such as their victory over Real Madrid 29 years ago, and even their win over Internazionale last season. Striving to return straight back to the Premiership this season, Ipswich have already found that this second successive European campaign is affecting their domestic rhythm. But the incentive remains to make the most of an opportunity they earned through Uefa's lucky-draw entry for sides exhibiting fair play.

Ipswich began their Uefa campaign with a flourish, accounting for Avenir Beggen of Luxembourg 9-1 on aggregate. But even though Sartid, who only joined the Yugoslav top flight four years ago, had struggled to beat Bangor City 2-1 on aggregate in their qualifying round, finishing third in the league last season and only losing 1-0 to Red Star Belgrade in their Cup final gave a clear warning of their quality.

Sartid's 1-1 draw with Red Star at the weekend offered further evidence that they were not to be lightly dismissed, and although Ipswich began confidently they missed an early flurry of chances.

Those mistakes appeared even more costly after 32 minutes when a simple break saw Nenad Mirosavljevic, the visitors' top scorer last season with 15 goals, break the deadlock after exchanging passes with Demir Radovic.

At half time, the home side left the pitch to boos, but within 10 minutes of the re-start they raised the spirits of the home fans within a 16,933 crowd as a long ball from the defender John McGreal cleared the Sartid defence and offered Armstrong, making his first start this season after injury, the opportunity to hook home a shot on the turn.

It restored Ipswich's belief and, picking up the pace, they might have scored again. Soon after, Jamie Clapham headed against the bar from Pablo Couñago's cross and later Armstrong prompted the giant Dragan Zilic into a fine save from close range.

Six minutes from time they had a final frustration when substitute Finidi George was hauled back on the edge of the box. There was still time for Dejan Kekezovic to be sent off for a second bookable offence, but by then they had secured a draw. "We are pleased with this result against a side as strong as Ipswich," said their coach Jovica Skoro. "We feel we will just have the edge in the return leg."

Ipswich Town (4-4-2): Marshall; Wilnis, McGreal, Venus, Hreidarsson; T Miller, Ambrose (George, 63), Holland, Clapham; Armstrong (M Bent, 71), Couñago. Substitutes not used: Pullen (gk), Wright, Magilton, D Bent, Brown.

Sartid Smederevo (3-5-2): Zilic; Spasic, Paunovic, Socanac; Bogdanovic (Kizic, 49), Ramovic, Vaskovic, Kekezovic, Radosavljevic (Savic, 56); Mirosavljevic, Zecevic. Substitutes not used: Rankovic (gk), Branezac, Kulic, Zivanovic, Dokic.

Referee: T Mikulski (Poland).