An 87th minute equaliser from first-time captain Chris Wood has earned the All Whites a 1-1 draw with world No 88-ranked China in Nanchang.

Coach Anthony Hudson says the All Whites have taken "a big step forward" with this morning's 1-1 draw with China.

With Hudson lacking injured captain Winston Reid in a new-look squad filled with inexperienced players, the All Whites could, and probably should, have won the game in Nanchang - producing a pressing and enterprising display but just lacking a clinical edge.

With four good chances missed, stand-in captain Chris Wood headed home an 86th minute equaliser to cancel out a superb long range shot from China's Wu Lei conceded just before half-time - giving the All Whites no less than they deserved.

Getty Images GREAT EQUALISER: Chris Wood's 87th minute goal earned the All Whites a 1-1 draw with 88th-ranked China in Nanchang.

Though it was Hudson's second game in charge, in truth, it was his first opportunity to stamp his own imprint on the Kiwi team, with September's loss to Uzbekistan more of an evaluation exercise for the incoming coach.

And while the result, away to a side ranked 43 places above them in the world, was solid for an inexperienced and under-strength squad, it was the attitude and application shown which pleased Hudson - prompting him to say a corner has been turned.

"This is a big step forward. Overall I am very proud of them. They were really excellent tonight," Hudson said.

"What they gave in terms of intensity, effort and all the things we lacked against Uzbekistan, we got the opposite tonight. I thought we were absolutely outstanding as a team.

"One thing we wanted to address was us being competitive. Against Uzbekistan we were very much off the pace and played a soft game. Tonight we were the opposite. We came to a very difficult place and tried to play as much as possible in the opposition half. "We were aggressive, we were positive. In terms of commitment of the players they were excellent especially for such a young squad."

New Zealand made a decent start to the match, carving out the better chances in the opening minutes with Wood's physicality and the close-range skill of Marco Rojas causing real problems in the Chinese defence. Bill Tuiloma also saw a glancing header hit the post in the 33rd minute.

While newcomer Jake Gleeson looked nervous, skewing three early goal kicks, he had no chance with stopping Zhi's superb strike in the 43rd minute. It was irritating for the All Whites but they continued to hassle the opposition and create chances. Wood, the captain in Reid's absence, missed a close-range chance in the 49th minute as Bill Tuiloma's flick-on header from a Michael McGlinchey cross hit his knee and rebounded across goal.

Even better chances followed with both Kosta Barbarouses and Tim Payne having a couple of great chances, including Payne scuffing a shot from the six-yard box.

But it was Wood, in his first game as All Whites captain, who crowned his memorable day with a deserved leveller just before the final whistle.

In his own words, striker Wood said he can't remember a display from a national side so creative.

"I don't think I've been in an [All Whites] side that has created four clear-cut chances in a game. That's something we can take positives from the game. We created those chances and that's a positive thing we are doing," Wood said.

"We definitely deserved something out of the game with the chances we created so we can take a positive result of coming away from a strong China team with a draw, knowing we could have probably won the game as well."

The All Whites, ranked 131 in the world, next take on 165th-ranked Thailand in the early hours of Wednesday morning (NZT).