The instruction to the St Johnstone players from manager Derek McInnes must surely have been to play the match at a high tempo and deny the hosts time on the ball.
Arshavin shot wide from the edge of the box in a rare opening for the Gunners, while at the other end it took a last-ditch clearance from Johan Djourou to deny Priskin after a long-ball upfield from Jaime Peters unlocked the visiting team's defence.
The half-back was on song again 11 minutes later as Ben Fisher scored but not before Ryan Bailey spilled the ball over the line to deny Leeds a chance to level the score.
MacDonald had looked nervous as Hibs pumped crosses into the box without much real poise, but the stand-in goalkeeper did superbly to deny Fletcher's attempt curl the ball home from 15 yards, turning it wide after the striker was put clear on goal.
But Gerrard came to Liverpool's rescue as he prodded home after Price had made a reaction save to deny Torres and McEveley could only steer the ball into the path of the Reds captain.
They combined on the half hour with Fabiano crossing for Nilmar at the back post, who looked certain to score only for Eduardo to produce a superb point blank save to push the ball on to the post and deny him.
Poland's defense was looking fragile and was exposed again with a simple ball over the top -- with Boruc this time having to deny Christoph Leitgeb.
In contrast Australia looked much sharper with ball in hand and it took a superb tackle from Chris Ashton to deny Drew Mitchell the opening try after scrum-half Luke Burgess had made a sniping break.
There could have been late drama when Sami Hyypia's mistake gifted the ball to Dave Edwards in the Finland box but Bolton keeper Jaaskelainen reacted quickly to deny him and Wales who will finish fourth in the group.
Zaluska produced a fine finger-tip save to deny Fleck and, from the corner, David Weir was too slow to pounce on the loose ball eight yards from goal.
The visitors piled on the pressure after the interval and twice Wilkerson produced fine saves to deny MacDonald, while Justin Richards shot just the wrong side of the post and then blazed the ball over the crossbar.
The ball went left, but Northampton back-row Apo Satala put in a magnificent cover tackle to deny Brian Mujati a try in the corner.
He dived to his right to deny Jenas, then made a miraculous point-blank stop from Defoe after Gary Naysmith had inexplicably turned the ball into his path from only six yards out.
Yet, Zat Knight almost gifted the visitors the lead 21 minutes into the match, as his attempt to chest the ball safely back to Van der Sar fell woefully short, and the keeper had to react sharply to deny Earnshaw.
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