PRAGUE, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Swiss side Thun secured a spot in the UEFA Cup by holding Sparta Prague to a 0-0 draw in their final Champions League Group B match on Wednesday.

Sparta, bottom of the group, looked lively early on but

failed to break through as Thun finished third in the table

behind first-placed Arsenal and runners-up Ajax Amsterdam.

"We though we had hit the bottom but we saw today the bottom

is even lower," said Sparta coach Stanislav Griga.

"We could not score again and we could not keep up the pace

in the second half. Thun was no longer under pressure, it got

into the game."

The Swiss side, for whom a raw was enough to secure the the

third place, did not look dangerous for most of the dull game

filled with inaccurate passes.

It came closest to scoring 10 minutes before the whistle

when Vieira Leandro's powerful shot went wide.

Adam Petrous went closest to scoring for the home team when

he volleyed against the bar from close range a minute later.

Sparta's Miroslav Slepicka found Libor Dosek inside the box

five minutes into the game but he only hit the jumping ball with

his shank and missed the net.

The Sparta forward almost scored a lucky goal in the 21st

when a ball cleared by Jose Goncalves bounced off his back right

beside the post.

Martin Petras, the Sparta captain, was sent off after a foul

on Faria Pimenta Adriano in the 78th minute. Thun's Jose

Goncalves received a red card for pulling down Jiri Jeslinek in

the 85th minute.