Crawley Town were held to a dour goalless draw at home to second from bottom Chelmsford City.

In a match lacking in attacking spark, both sets of defences cancelled each other out as Reds' unbeaten run was extended to nine matches.

Recent signing Karl Ready replaced Jay Richardson in the starting line-up, returning to a three-man defence after recovering from a throat infection which had kept him out of Saturday's 2-1 win at Newport County.

Daniel Marney began the second month of his loan spell from Albion and looked sharp as he fired over the bar from outside the area in only the second minute.

In the second half Robert Smith threatened to break the deadlock after 70 minutes with a dynamic strike from 30 yards which was turned away spectacularly by the Chelmsford keeper.

In the closing stages teenager Sal Gaye made his debut up front as a substitute in place of Fabian Forde.