Poland, Ukraine all square

Fresh from UEFA Champions League success with his French club Auxerre, in-form striker Ireneusz Jelen hounded the Ukraine defence from the outset, with Poland's attacks belying the visitor's edge in possession.

Ukraine's Serbia-born Marko Devic hit back in the 11th minute, but was denied by Polish keeper Artur Boruc.

Minutes later, Jelen failed to latch onto a cross from Jakub Blaszczykowski, but Ukraine keeper Andrei Pyatov conceded a corner.

Polish-born former Germany Under-21 Sebastian Boenisch - on his first call-up after opting for Poland last month - headed wide of the goal and then returned to the fray only to see his long shot saved easily by Pyatov.

In the 41st minute, Boruc parried a shot from Devic and the Poles counter-attacked immediately, Blaszczykowski feeding Jelen who powered the ball in from the right.

It was Jelen's fifth goal for his country in 26 appearances, and Poland's first since a 2-0 win over Bulgaria in a friendly in March.

In four friendlies since then, the White Eagles have drawn with Finland and Serbia 0-0, suffered a humiliating 6-0 defeat at the hands of Spain and lost 3-0 to Cameroon.

Like Ukraine, Poland failed to make it to this year's FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa.

Because both nations are guaranteed host's berths at the 2012 European championship, they have had no competitive matches since completing their World Cup qualifiers at the end of 2009 and therefore must hone their skills via friendlies.

Ukraine has been under less pressure, beating Lithuania 4-0, Romania 3-2 and Norway 1-0, and drawing with Netherlands 1-1 last month.

However, it has been unsettled by infighting, with previous coach Miron Markevich quitting on 21 August after just six months on the job amid bitter fallout with the Ukrainian FA over a match-fixing scandal at his club.

His former assistant, Yury Kalitvintsev, is now at the helm.

In the second half, Kalitvintsev made a string of substitutions, but despite solid defending against renewed Polish assaults, Ukraine failed to shine.

In the 82nd minute, however, substitute Valdimir Pilevoi powered free to score - but was flagged offside.

Boruc was then booked for time-wasting, and his defenders let their guard slip, allowing the unmarked Denis Kozhanov to break free but shoot wide just inside stoppage-time.

They slipped again within seconds, and Yevgeny Seleznov powered the ball into the Polish net in the 91st minute to equalise.

Poland faces Australia on Tuesday evening (Wednesday morning AEST) in its next friendly, in Krakow in the south.

Ukraine, meanwhile, returns home to host Chile in its capital, Kiev.