Crawley remain in the relegation zone despite a spirited finish in a goalless draw away to fellow strugglers Crewe.

The result keeps the Reds in 22nd place in League One, on level points with Notts County who also drew 0-0 and two behind Crewe.

Behind them, Colchester closed the gap to three points with a 2-1 win at Port Vale.

For long periods the game was pretty grim with both sides lacking composure and it took Crawley 83 minutes to produce a shot on target.

Gavin Tomlin had their best chance in a late push but a draw was about the right result.

It was the visitors who started the brighter and on four minutes Brian Jensen had to make a smart save at his near post from Jamie Ness, with Richard Wood blocking the follow-up from Greg Leigh.

But the rest of the half degenerated into a tense, disjointed affair with both sides giving the ball away too easily.

Crawley were forced into a change on 21 minutes when Leacock suffered a recurrence of his groin problem and was replaced by Ryan Dickson with Sonny Bradley moving to the middle.

The second half picked up where the first had left off with little pattern to either side’s play.

Lanre Oyebanjo fired a left-foot strike past the far upright on 55 minutes but chances were at a premium.

For Crewe, Chris Atkinson’s dinked lob just cleared the crossbar on 67 minutes.

Crawley looked the more comfortable side but it was not until seven minutes from time that they registered their first shot on target, top scorer Izale McLeod cutting aside his marker but his shot was easily held by Paul Rachubka.

McLeod then had another shot held by the keeper and there was an even better chance in the 90th-minute as Rachuba, at full stretch, turned Tomlin’s stabbed shot around a post for a corner.

There were then appeals that the ball had crossed the line from Lee Fowler’s subsequent corner but nothing was given.

It was a good finish from Crawley and appeals for a penalty were waved away when substitute Dean Morgan’s shot was blocked amid a suggestion of handball.

But it was all in vain as Crawley had to settle for another point in their fight for survival.

Crawley: Jensen; Oyebanjo, Leacock (sub Dickson 21), Wood, Bradley; Tomlin, Fowler, Wordsworth, Edwards; Pogba (sub Morgan 84); McLeod. Subs not used: Smith, Young, Cofie, Elliott, Price.

Crewe: Rachubka; Turton, Davis, Tate, Leigh; Atkinson, Grant; Ness; Dalla Valle (sub Haber 90), Ikpeazu (sub Inman 75), Ajose (sub Colclough 61). Subs not used: Guthrie, Ray, Jones, Stewart.