published: thursday 3 december 2009, 22.30cet fc shakhtar donetsk 0-0 club brugge kv
the pitmen surrendered their 100 per cent record to their nearest group j rivals in ukraine though did enough to secure first place.
fc shakhtar donetsk drew a blank and surrendered their 100 per cent record in a goalless home draw with second-placed club brugge kv, but the point was enough to secure top spot with a match to spare in group j.
toulouse decider a stalemate at the donbass arena was valuable to adrie koster's side too, however, as it left them needing a draw from their final match at home to toulouse fc to progress at the expense of the french side. the pitmen arguably had the lion's share of a subdued encounter although the visitors' wesley sonck squandered the best chance.
fluent move with shakhtar already assured of a place in the last 32, there was a dearth of urgency early on but they contrived to prise the first opening with a wonderful move after 17 minutes. four players were involved in a flowing one-touch attack with jadson only denied from ten metres by a smart low save from stijn stijnen. jolted into action, brugge threatened for the first time when jonathan blondel's free-kick was flicked towards goal by sonck, andriy pyatov smothering at his near post.
sonck chance jadson continued to be the most likely source of inspiration after the interval and he was unlucky to be denied by a last-ditch block by jeroen simaeys. the clearest sight of goal instead fell to sonck when fit-again olexandr kucher misjudged a long ball from ryan donk but, one-on-one, the striker fired straight at pyatov. răzvan raţ almost made the blauw-zwart pay only for stijnen to push his 20-metre drive wide, yaroslav rakitskiy rifled just wide and substitute mariusz lewandowski headed a glorious last-minute effort over as the belgian outfit hung on for a precious point.
