Cole saves misfiring Gunners

Ashley Cole, Arsenal’s surprise Champions League face-saver, is convinced the Gunners can now win their remaining two Group B games against Inter Milan and Lokomotiv Moscow to ensure a place in the last 16 – and push on for even greater glory.

England left-back Cole did what his illustrious strikers could not achieve and lit up Highbury on Bonfire Night with a dramatic 89th-minute goal against Dynamo Kiev.

It earned Arsene Wenger’s Premiership leaders their first Champions League win in nine attempts and another chance to prove they are no longer duffers in Europe.

But after taking just one point from the opening three games in the first-round section, Arsenal still need maximum points in Milan and at home to Lokomotiv to ensure going through.

Yet Cole insisted: “We firmly believe we can get the results we need.

“We went into the Kiev game thinking three wins were needed and certainly one on the night. And I think we’ve proved we are capable of getting them if we keep attacking like we can.

“It was a great team performance and I thought we also defended really well. And the goal meant a lot to me as well as the team.

“People say I’m always going upfield and should be back more but I’m glad I went up for that attack this time because I’ve had a few chances before this season and fluffed them.

“It is also nice to prove people wrong and show that it is not only Titi (Thierry Henry) who can score for Arsenal.

“But, yes, we do need to show what we can do in the Champions League.

“We can’t quite put our fingers on what we’ve done wrong but I do think we’ve been a bit unlucky. We missed a few chances in Kiev, where Dynamo’s keeper played well like he did last night, and against Lokomotiv in Moscow.

“But hopefully that is all going to change now. A team like this should not only be in the Champions League but making a real push for it. And that’s what we intend to do now.”

Cole can be forgiven the optimism of youth but his diving header right at the death last night merely papered over the cracks of Arsenal’s shortcomings in Europe.

Their approach play and individual technique is often a dream – good enough to keep them top of the Premiership – but the basic flaws of inept finishing and panicky defending could still cost them dear.

Victory in Milan in three weeks against an Inter team that beat them 3-0 at Highbury in September, will make the Gunners firm favourites to reach the knockout stages but even a draw could put them out of the reckoning and leave them to fight for the consolation prize of a UEFA Cup place.

Still, Arsenal deserved their success against Kiev, who were lucky to beat them 2-1 in the Ukraine two weeks ago, even though fortune smiled on Cole for his Highbury winner and his first-ever strike in the Champions League.

Sergei Federov, heavily bandaged around the head from an earlier collision, outjumped Thierry Henry for substitute Sylvain Wiltord’s right-wing cross and should have cleared.

But he only succeeded in heading the ball down into the six-yard box where the alert and unmarked Cole dived in to nod home.

Earlier, Gilberto Silva, Dennis Bergkamp and the enigmatic Robert Pires all missed absolute sitters.

They were unforgivable errors and seemed to give the Arsenal defence palpitations because Sol Campbell and company, having started soundly, eventually turned to jelly at the very sight of a Dynamo attacker.

Yet Arsenal boss Wenger insisted: “The header that Robert missed he would score every time in normal circumstances, but when the breakthrough won’t come it brings the nerves.

“I always kept faith because the boys gave everything, but although it is a big relief to get the win that we wanted so deeply, it is too early to call it a turning point.

“We have to keep in our minds that we must go to Milan aiming to win. We cannot risk calculating for a draw. The group has been proved to have great quality. It is very tight and all four teams have a chance to go through.

“But I sense the players are determined to do it and that’s why Ashley’s goal was so important.

“It was also unexpected for a lot of people, but he used to be a winger when he first came to Arsenal and he knows where to go when he’s in the box.

“He’s also a fighter and a boy with a lot of character, which is what we always need. It can be like a poker game in Europe when the breaks don’t come. You just have to gamble and push everything forward when you need the result.”

Arsenal, in fact, had four strikers on the field when Cole grabbed his winner but, like Bergkamp and Henry who started, substitutes Kanu – for all his height - and Wiltord offer little aerial option, a glaring deficiency in the team’s armoury.

Cole showed how good life can be when you use your head and now there is the little matter of the North London derby at home to Spurs on Saturday after he kept the Gunners hopes alive in Europe.