Hougang United were denied a second successive win in the Great Eastern-Yeo's S.League after a last-gasp goal gave Albirex Niigata (S) a 1-1 draw at Jalan Besar Stadium on Friday evening.
Nurhilmi Jasni's first half goal looked to be enough for the Cheetahs to earn all three points and build on last week's 1-0 victory against Harimau Muda, but Itsuki Yamada struck at the death to ensure the White Swans claim a share of the spoils.
Albirex started off well and should have went ahead on the 11th minute when Rui Kumada left his marker for dead inside the box, but his resulting shot went high into the Jalan Besar floodlights.
Meanwhile, Hougang's first real opening fell to Diego Gama seven minutes later, but the Brazilian's stooping header from Fairoz Hasan's left-wing cross crashed off the bar.
The Cheetahs duly broke the deadlock on 34 minutes, as Vuk Sotirovic lured two defenders out to the byline, before cutting the ball back for captain Nurhilmi to finish with aplomb from ten yards out.
Salim Moin's men created a number of opportunities to go two up shortly after the break, but were let down by their own profligacy.
First it was Sotirovic who fired into the side netting after collecting Fairoz's slide-rule pass, then Gama somehow headed over from three yards out after Carlos Delgado's inswinging corner had fell into his path.
Gama then had a decent penalty claim turned away by referee Ahmad A'Qashah after going down under contact from Kento Fujihara inside the area.
Albirex coach Tatsuyuki Okuyama then brought on Atsushi Kawata and Shotaro Ihata to turn things around, but his side continued to struggle against a resilient Hougang defence led by Kunihiro Yamashita.
Just when it seemed like time was running out for the White Swans, Yamada popped up right at the death with the equalizer.
With the Hougang defence not clearing their lines inside the box from a left-wing cross, the Albirex left-back seized on the loose ball and unleashed an emphatic first-time volley past the outstretched left arm of Ridhuan.
Hougang still had time to steal it right at the end but substitute Fareez Farhan saw his close-range shot hacked off the line by an alert Fujihara.
In the end, both sides had to settle for a point apiece which left Hougang coach Salim Moin with mixed feelings at the post-match press conference.
"Of course I'm very disappointed with the result," said the former Singapore international. "Nonetheless I have to compliment my players for doing the right things in almost every department.
"We knew that Albirex usually score their goals through the middle with their wall passes and through balls, so we wanted to push them to the flanks. We followed the game plan well and was well-organized enough to stop them for most of the game.
"Even after the equalizer, we had a chance to win it so I'm really proud of the spirit and character which my team showed."
Hougang United: Ridhuan Barudin (GK), Delwinder Singh, Kunihiro Yamashita, Tengku Mushadad, Lau Meng Meng, Nurhilmi Jasni (C), Carlos Delgado, Atsushi Shimono, Fairoz Hasan (Fazli Jaffar 75'), Vuk Sotirovic, Diego Gama (Fareez Farhan 88')
Albirex Niigata (S): Yosuke Nozawa (GK, C), Mikiya Yamada, Kento Fujihara, Takahiro Saito, Itsuki Yamada, Hikaru Mizano, Kento Nagasaki (Atsushi Kawata 63'), Shun Inaba, Rui Kumada (Shotaro Ihata 75'), Fumiya Kogure, Rion Taki