Hull City missed the chance to close the gap on the Championship's automatic promotion places as they were held to a 0-0 draw by managerless Watford at the MKM Stadium. Sergej Jakirovic's third-placed side had won their previous four league games and knew victory in this rearranged fixture would move them within two points of top two Coventry and Middlesbrough, but they rarely found their rhythm against play-off hopefuls who were under the caretaker charge of Charlie Daniels.
While the contest itself often lacked fluency, both teams created enough moments to feel they might have snatched more than a point. Goalkeepers Ivor Pandur and Egil Selvik made important saves at either end, and Watford captain Imran Louza twice went close after the interval as the visitors extended their winless run to five games despite producing an energetic, tactically disciplined performance.
Rearranged night that never quite caught fire
This match had already generated drama a month earlier, when the original fixture was controversially called off just 18 minutes before kick-off because of unsafe areas around the MKM Stadium pitch. The rearranged game was itself delayed by almost four minutes as a hurried repair was made to one of the nets, contributing to an understandably cumbersome start once play finally got under way.