Latvia have been held to a goalless draw away to Kazakhstan in their first match of Euro 2016 qualifying.

Anatoli Bogdanov fired over the crossbar early on the for the hosts, while teammate Tanat Nusrbayev saw his effort flash off target soon after.

The Kazakhs continued to put pressure on their opponents for the remainder of the opening 45 minutes as goalkeeper Aleksandrs Kolinko was forced into two saves to keep the scores level.

A mistake from Kolinko almost cost Latvia on 28 minutes but he was able to recover the ball after fumbling Bogdanov's shot.

Kazakhstan showed plenty of attacking intent during the final stages of the half, but Latvia survived to go in level at the break.

Latvia almost took the lead against the run of play midway through the second half when Vladislavs Gabovs had a sight of goal, though his shot was kept out by goalkeeper Andrey Sidelnikov.

Despite playing much of the game on the back foot, Latvia pushed for a winner in the latter moments of the match. However, they were denied the spoils by the dogged Kazakh defence.

Written by
Jack Prescott