Tampines Rovers' title hopes took yet another dent as they were held by Albirex Niigata (S) to a goalless draw at the Jurong West Stadium on Wednesday night.
Both sides traded chances throughout but were unable to blow the roof down eventually.
Albirex coach Tatsuyuki Okuyama named an unchanged lineup from the one that started in the 2-1 win against Hougang United five days ago, while Tampines counterpart V. Sundramoorthy brought back Croatian forward Mateo Roskam who had missed the last five games through injury.
It was the Stags who started the game on the front foot, with Rodrigo Tosi firing just wide after four minutes when Roberto Alviz picked him out with a delightful right-wing cross.
The White Swans settled in thereafter with Atsushi Kawata lashing off-target shots on two occasions.
Both sides had the opportunity to break the deadlock via set pieces midway through. However Alviz fired his freekick straight at Albirex custodian Yousuke Nozawa, while Kento Nagasaki curled just wide of Joey Sim's right-hand post.
There were further chances for Tampines just before the break, but Roskam slammed wide from close range and Tosi's spectacular volley from just outside the box was palmed to safety by Nozawa.
Aqhari Abdullah replaced Fabian Kwok for the Stags after the restart, but it was Albirex which came flying out of the blocks.
Rui Kumada was denied by the onrushing Sim after being released through on goal just three minutes in, before Hikaru Mizuno's follow-up was deflected wide.
From the resulting corner, the ball fell to Shotaro Ihata whose fierce volley was blocked at point-blank range by Sim before Kawata's follow-up header was cleared off the line by a Tampines defender.
Having survived the Albirex onslaught, Tampines could have scored at the other end with Firdaus Idros cutting inside his marker before letting fly at Nozawa.
However the 36-year-old managed to divert the former's goal-bound shot. Firdaus then turned provider on the hour mark when his left-wing cross found Tosi, but the Brazilian hitman was unable to power home his header.
Aqhari was subsequently substituted by Ismail Yunos after sustaining a knock. As a result, Eddy Viator was moved into midfield to fill his void while the latter took the spot at right back.
Albirex nearly took advantage of the reshuffle with Rion Taki cutting inside Ismail, but his shot from a tight angle only managed to find the side netting.
Tampines piled on the pressure towards the closing stages with a couple of Alviz corners, but Roskam was unable to put his header on target and substitute Ridhuan Muhammad's close-range shot was deflected over the bar.
Eventually both sides had to settle for the draw which was perhaps a fair reflection of the proceedings. The result meant Albirex remained top of the S.League table with 20 points from 10 games, while Tampines temporarily went up to fifth with 11 points from eight games.
Speaking after the game, Okuyama was pleased that his side secured a valuable point out of a tough game.
"Of course we wanted the three points tonight, but we didn't lose the game and let in any goals," he said. "Kawata just came back so we need to coordinate more to get smoother in terms of the attacking combination. But in defence, we were quite confident and that resulted in the good point gained."
Meanwhile Sundram believes the Stags can still mount a serious title bid despite dropping two points.
"Honestly, we wanted to win this game very badly because we're playing at home," said the 49-year-old. "But Albirex is a very tough team to crack; we created some chances in the second half but were unlucky not to put them into the net.
"I think two wins will make a big difference in this league and it's good that we didn't lose today. We need to move on from here for the next game."
Tampines will face Brunei DPMM in Bandar Seri Begawan on May. 10 and the Stags will be eager to get back to winning ways after their insipid performances in recent matches.
Tampines Rovers: Joey Sim (GK), Eddy Viator, Fahrudin Mustafic (C), Predrag Pocuca, Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Ismadi Mukhtar (Ridhuan Muhammad 59'), Roberto Alviz, Fabian Kwok (Aqhari Abdullah 46', Ismail Yunos 77'), Firdaus Idros, Mateo Roskam, Rodrigo Tosi.
Albirex Niigata (S): Yosuke Nazawa (GK), Mikiya Yamada (Yusuke Mukai 74'), Takahiro Saito, Kento Fujihara, Itsuki Yamada, Rui Kumada (Rion Taki 57'), Hikaru Mizuno, Shun Inaba, Atsushi Kawata, Kento Nagasaki, Shotaro Ihata (C).
