Hull missed the chance to close the gap on the Championship’s top two after a dull goalless draw against managerless Watford.

Sergej Jakirovic’s side would have been two points off Coventry and Middlesbrough with a fifth straight victory, but failed to create many chances of substance against the Hornets, whose winless run now extends to five games.

Both goalkeepers made strong saves in a scrappy first half, with Hull’s Ivor Pandur acrobatically denying Giorgi Chakvetadze, before Watford’s Egil Selvik made a tremendous stop from a Charlie Hughes header.

The visitors were the better side in the second half, with Imran Louza twice coming close to finding a winner, but they could not break through.

This was Watford’s first game since Javi Gracia’s resignation on Monday, with Charlie Daniels, Dan Gosling and Adrian Mariappa in temporary charge.

They have fallen from fourth to tenth as a result of their lacklustre form, but they competed well with the in-form Tigers and were the better side in the second half.

Edo Kayembe and Kwadwo Baah also missed chances towards the end of the game for The Hornets.

Hull, meanwhile, struggled to find any fluency, and did not look like a side who have lost just once since early December.

They face Bristol City on Saturday hoping to keep the pressure on Coventry and Middlesbrough in the automatic promotion places.