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Tranmere failed to score for a third successive game but kept alive their automatic promotion hopes with a 0-0 League Two draw against Salford.

The point will be more pleasing for Keith Hill's fifth-placed Rovers than the visitors, who are now three points outside the top seven.

Salford, watched by part owners Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs, have the division's best defensive record but have not always got it right at the other end.

Ex-Rochdale player Ian Henderson had City's best chance but his 16th-minute header was well saved by veteran Joe Murphy.

Tranmere, without a victory in seven games - five of them draws - went close to a return to winning ways during a brief hectic spell in the second half.

Paul Lewis' 61st-minute effort hit the ground and bounced on to the top of the crossbar, before Danny Lloyd almost punished Ash Eastham's carelessness but the ex-Salford player was denied by Vaclav Hladky and then a defensive block.

Tranmere looked most likely to snatch all three points and brought on talismanic striker James Vaughan for only his second game since knee surgery.

Vaughan looked rusty but still forced Hladky into a vital stop, while at the other end Henderson's chip was comfortably dealt with by Murphy.

Match report supplied by PA Media.