Home United and Brunei DPMM played out a goalless draw on Wednesday night in the Great Eastern Yeo's S.League at Yishun Stadium, with the result not doing either team much good.
Victory for Steve Kean's team would have seen them close the gap on leaders Warriors FC, while Philippe Aw's team would have moved up to fourth with a win.
But both teams ultimately failed to take the sprinkling of opportunities that came their way, with DPMM's Brazilian striker Rafael Ramazotti probably the guiltiest party amongst them.
In a first half that was scrappy and devoid of genuine chances, it was the visitors who had by far the best attempt on goal just past the half-hour mark.
An inch-perfect cross from the left by Hendra Azam picked out Maududi Hilmi steaming into the area at the far post, but his stabbed effort was repelled by an alert Shahril Jantan.
The rare moments of quality for the home team came courtesy of Ken Ilso, who started his first game for in four months. The former Bundesliga striker's assured control and vision saw him either make space for himself when there was none, or pick out his teammates with precise passes on the occasions he had the ball.
It was from one such move that the hosts nearly went ahead seven minutes into the second half. A deft turn was followed by a splitting pass to send Ang Zhi Wei clear down the right. Unfortunately, Kamel Ramdani headed the right-back's cross straight at Wardun Yussof.
Ambroise Begue then flashed an effort wide from distance after surging 30 yards down the middle, as Home sought to take control.
At the other end, Ramazotti -- scorer of both goals in the 2-2 draw the last time both teams met -- was being kept quiet, although the Protectors nearly shot themselves in the foot.
Abdil Qaiyyim sold his goalkeeper short with a back pass and then appeared to block off Paulo Sergio as he tried to pounce, but the referee dismissed the penalty appeals.
The towering Brazilian then came close to breaking the deadlock twice within five minutes. First, a cross was sidefooted just wide of the left post, before Shahril pulled off a brilliant fingertip save from a rasping volley.
A third bite of the cherry fell to the hitman in the 81st minute as a lovely switch of feet from right to left generated space for a shot from the edge of the box, which whistled past the post as a rooted Shahril looked on in hope.
There was one last opportunity for a winner when Ilso curled in a fantastic free kick from deep to the far post, but Abdil could only direct his header into the ground and then see it bounce over the bar.
The stalemate was a fair result according to Aw, who described it as a "battle".
"Of course we are disappointed we didn't take the three points [but] there weren't any really clear chances and the final ball was lacking," reflected the coach, who was also encouraged that Ilso completed the 90 minutes.
Aw then went on to lament the disruption in momentum caused by the recent breaks from league action, and which will now mean they play seven matches in the next 29 days.
"As a coach, I seriously don't agree with this... you want to build the momentum and even for the players themselves, it's difficult when they pick up, do well and then a long break comes," he asserted, before stating his wish for a more regular schedule.
As for Kean, the Scot felt it was a game of two halves, although he was adamant that they should have had a penalty.
"There was a block, certainly it was a penalty we never got," he stated. "Those little decisions went against us tonight [but[ I was really pleased with our second half.. defensively I thought we were excellent."
Home United: Shahril Jantan, Ang Zhi Wei, Abdil Qaiyyim, R. Aaravin (Juma'at Jantan 53'), Sirina Camara, Yasir Hanapi (C), Song Ui-young, Stanely Ng, Azhar Sairudin (Redzwan Atan 79'), Kamel Ramdani, Ken Ilso
Brunei DPMM: Wardun Yussof, Aminuddin Zakwan, Boris Raspudic, Rosmin Kamis (C), Sairol Sahari (Helmi Zambin 90'), Maududi Hilmi (Adi Said 78'), Joseph Gamble, Hendra Azam, Najib Tarif (Azwan Saleh 78'), Rafael Ramazotti, Paulo Sergio