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Tampines Rovers suffered a huge dent in their bid to win the 2015 Great Eastern-Yeo's S.League title after being held to a goalless stalemate by Warriors FC at the Jurong West Stadium on Monday night. The Stags were looking to extend their winning run to five matches, but they were largely stifled by a gritty Warriors side that was determined to prove their mettle despite failing in their title defence. Hafiz Rahim wasted his effort from Miroslav Pejic's pass on 11 minutes, before Fazrul Nawaz's header from Marin Vidosevic's searching cross was saved at point-blank range by Tampines goalkeeper Rodrigo Pacheco nine minutes later. Tampines captain Fahrudin Mustafic attempted to grab the game by the scruff of its neck on 35 minutes, but his ambitious 25-yard drive went just over the bar. Warriors should perhaps have broken the deadlock two minutes later when Hafsyar Farkhan went through on goal via Daniel Bennett's long ball, but the winger was superbly denied by the onrushing Pacheco. That was the prelude to a much more open second half where both sides traded opportunities. First it was Tampines right-back Fabian Kwok who saw his left-footed drive from just outside the box on 56 minutes, crashing off the post with Warriors keeper Daniel Ong beaten. The pendulum then swung the Warriors' way three minutes later as Emmeric Ong released Fazrul through on goal, but the latter's powerful shot was tipped around the post by Pacheco. Hafiz Rahim got his head to the resulting corner played in by Pejic, but once again Pacheco proved to be equal to the task. The final 20 minutes or so belonged to the Stags as they surged forward in search of the winner. Ismadi Mukhtar wriggled free in the box on 69 minutes but saw his shot charged down by Ong, before Roberto Alviz set up Rodrigo Tosi three minutes later only to see the latter lash high into the stadium's floodlights. Ismail Yunos had the best opportunity to win it eight minutes before the end, but his header from Alviz's inswinging corner came off the top of the crossbar. Warriors could have stolen it right at the death when Pejic's curling shot looked destined for the bottom left corner, but Pacheco pulled off a delightful diving save. Eventually both sides had to settle for a point apiece, with Tampines rueing a missed opportunity to close the gap between them and leaders Brunei DPMM. The Wasps will open up an eight-point advantage if they beat Geylang International on Tuesday night, a situation which Tampines coach V. Sundramoorthy is clearly hoping to avoid. "It's clearly a disappointing result for us and now we need favours from other teams," said the former LionsXII coach. "I hope Geylang can pull off something tomorrow and make the league interesting till the final day. "The boys tried very hard and wanted to win this game badly, but this is football. Maybe the pressure got to them and I'm not going to fault them." Tampines Rovers: Rodrigo Pacheco (GK), Fabian Kwok, Predrag Pocuca, Jufri Taha, Ismail Yunos, Ismadi Mukhtar, Roberto Alviz, Fahrudin Mustafic (C), Shaiful Esah (Firdaus Idros 77'), Mateo Roskam, Rodrigo Tosi (Noh Alam Shah 90') Warriors FC: Daniel Ong (GK), Syaqir Sulaiman, Daniel Bennett (C), Marin Vidosevic, Irwan Shah, Emmeric Ong, Karlo Ivancic, Hafsyar Farkhan (Hamqaamal Shah 70'), Hafiz Rahim, Miroslav Pejic, Fazrul Nawaz
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