Kazakhs, Austria end with draw

Kazakhstan avoided defeat for only the second time in their UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying campaign in a low-key goalless draw against Austria at the Astana Arena. In a clash between two nations who already had no chance of claiming a top-two berth in Group A, Austria dominated in terms of shots but clear-cut chances were few and far between at either end. The result left Kazakhstan bottom of the pool with four points from their ten games, while Austria finished in fourth spot with 12 points. Kazakhstan had lost eight of their nine group matches coming into this fixture and they looked set for another evening of disappointment as they quickly found themselves on the back foot. The match was only 31 seconds old when Austria had their first attempt on goal, with Sebastien Prodl's 25-yard effort going over. That was the first of a host of Austrian efforts in the first half, but David Alaba, Andreas Ivanschitz, Ekrem Dag and Marko Arnautovic all failed to hit the target before home goalkeeper Andrey Sidelnikov was finally given something to do in the 37th minute when he kept out Marc Janko's shot. Sidelnikov keeps Austria out At the other end, Kazakhstan had to wait for first-half stoppage time to create their first opening, which saw Heinrich Schmidtgal fire wide from the edge of the box. It was a similar story after the break with Austria again making most of the running but without giving Sidelnikov too much to do. Alaba saw a drive blocked just after the break before Paul Scharner had one of the best efforts of the match in the 48th minute, his right-footed shot from 20 yards out being tipped around the post by Sidelnikov. Soon after that Kazakhstan had another opening but Sergei Gridin lashed wide, before Austria resumed their attack on the home goal with Janko, Arnautovic and Scharner all trying their luck without success. Kazakhstan looked marginally more dangerous in the final half-hour and, after Gridin had an effort saved by Pascal Grunwald, Marat Khairullin almost put the hosts ahead in the 84th minute but Grunwald pushed his shot behind for a corner as the game finished goalless.