Wenger frustrated after Kiev draw

11:00am Thursday 18th September 2008

Arsene Wenger feels Arsenal's "momentum" was maintained following a dramatic late equaliser by captain William Gallas which rescued a 1-1 draw from their Champions League opener against Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine.

The Gunners boss may have been left less than impressed by both the time-keeping of Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo and the failure to protect winger Theo Walcott from being "destroyed" by left-back Andriy Nesmachniy, the Kiev captain.

Nevertheless, Wenger's men are now unbeaten from four matches and the Frenchman said: "We are in a good momentum and it was important to at least come back from Ukraine with a point, even if it should have been three."

He added: "Overall, this result does not interrupt our momentum."

Kiev looked to have made the Gunners pay a heavy price for missing chances when, on 64 minutes, Arsenal full-back Bacary Sagna was adjudged to have pushed over Ognjen Vukojevic and Ismael Bangoura scored from the penalty spot.

Then, just as time looked to be running out, Gallas netted from close range following a low cross by Walcott.

Wenger launched a stern attack on the Spanish referee, who he confronted on the pitch following the final whistle.

"I wanted to understand how we had only three minutes of injury time, and then only played one minute," said Wenger.

Wenger continued: "The referee should also have sent off the left-back three times at least during the game because he destroyed Walcott.

"And it is the same referee who gave Kiev a penalty which you [Ukrainian press] did not complain about."

AROUND THE SITE