Linfield 1-1 FC BATE Borisov: Linfield earned an impressive draw against the highly-fancied FC BATE at Windsor Park last night to hand themselves a fighting chance of making further Champions League progress when the sides clash in eastern Europe for next week’s second leg.Daryl Fordyce enjoyed a dream start to his Blues career with a fifth minute opener before an inexplicable handball from David Armstrong earned the Belarusians a leveller from the penalty spot.Though they still face a mighty task to stay in the competition beyond next week’s return meeting, David Jeffrey’s men can be proud of an heroic display.Linfield were spared involvement in the initial Champions League stage by virtue of a domino-effect sequence which – bizarrely – was kick-started by Barcelona’s defeat of Manchester United in last season’s Wembley final.As a consequence, the Blues entered this second phase as one of the lowest-ranked teams in the competition and, to put the size of their challenge into perspective, BATE boasted the highest co-efficient of all participants.Seasoned European campaigners from a nation which is enjoying a rich upturn in footballing fortunes, BATE – champions of Belarus for the last five years and currently eight points clear at the summit of their domestic division – were given no time to settle into the Windsor Park surrounds as Linfield took the game to their opponents from the off.Understandably adopting a cautious 4-5-1 approach, Jeffrey’s battlers were quick out of the traps and broke the deadlock after just five minutes when Philip Lowry sent Michael Carvill scampering down the right flank and, finding himself outnumbered in the corner, he dinked a delightful pass through the crowd and into Jim Ervin’s path.His subsequent delivery to the back post beat goalkeeper Aliaksandr Hutar all ends up and debut boy Fordyce gleefully accepted the invitation to head home under pressure.Not the start either side will have had in mind but, tails up, the Blues showed no signs of being happy to sit on that advantage and did what they could to further ruffle the visitors’ feathers.The lively Carvill fashioned space down the left only to see his dangerous low cross fall behind the in-rushing Peter Thompson.The visitors were quite literally handed a route back into the game when Armstrong’s flailing limb cut out Aliaksandr Valadzko’s cross, earning the Linfield defender a yellow card and BATE a penalty which Renan stepped up to confidently convert, sending Blayney the wrong way in so doing.The duo faced off again early in the second half and this time the Blues keeper came out on top, getting down well to turn the Brazilian frontman’s free-kick around the post.Late on, Fordyce forced Hutar into action with a powerful right-footed drive which threatened to sneak its way into the far corner of the net. So the Blues will make the 1,896-mile trip to Borisov next week hugely encouraged.