Ryunosuke Noda headed in a late equalizer to give Nagoya Grampus a 1-1 draw away to holder Gamba Osaka in the first leg of the Nabisco Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday night.

Takahiro Futagawa gave Gamba the lead after just six minutes, but Noda scored a crucial away goal at the near post with 14 minutes left at Expo Stadium. The return leg takes place Sunday.

"If we prepare the way we always do and put up a fight I think we can get a better result (on Sunday) than we did today," said Noda.