Bristol City have been largely subdued by relegation-threatened Crawley Town in a goalless first half in Sussex.

The Red Devils made a bright start to the game at the Checkatrade.com Stadium and almost took the lead when Mathias Pogba's flick played in Izale McLeod, but the forward could not make the most of his opportunity to score.

Aaron Wilbraham saw his early effort parried to safety by Lewis Price, but Crawley continued to threaten in attack against the runaway leaders.

Midway through the half, McLeod found space on the right side of the area, only for his strike to miss the target.

Both sides tried to find a breakthrough, with City forward Kieran Agard seeing his shot blocked by the home defence, before Pogba was denied at the other end after an opening half-hour with few clear-cut goalscoring opportunities.

On the stroke of half time, Lee Fowler saw his strike blocked for hosts as neither side managed an attempt on target in the first 45 minutes.