Tampines Rovers will seek to put their S.League title bid back on track when they go away to face Hougang United at Hougang Stadium on Thursday night.
The Stags suffered a 4-1 defeat to champions Albirex Niigata (S) on Sunday night and are now seven points off the pace, but midfielder Shahdan Sulaiman believes there is ample time to close the gap.
"Of course, it's disappointing to lose in such a big match, but it's still a long way to go with 15 matches left to play," the 29-year-old told ESPN FC. "The second round has just started and we are not going to let our heads go down at this moment because we can still catch up."
Jurgen Raab's side were on a run of four successive wins before the loss to the White Swans, with Shahdan emphasising the need to get back in the groove.
"It's important to find consistency and string some results together if we want to be up there at the end of the season," he said. "We have been settling down under coach Raab and the team has been playing some good football. Let's continue to play in this way to climb the table and entertain the fans."
However, it will not be easy against a rejuvenated Hougang side.
Inconsistency had plagued the Cheetahs' campaign so far, but they are showing signs of coming good with two wins and one draw in their last three matches.
The Northeastern-based club are now on 13 points from nine matches, five behind third-placed Tampines with coach Philippe Aw setting sights on a top-three finish.
"Along the way, there were some hurdles here and there, including three defeats in a row," Aw told ESPN FC. "We've responded well and the team's now coming together. To have a bad patch in the beginning of the season isn't necessarily a bad thing as it shows us the problems we have and gives us time to rectify them.
"To expect a title challenge in the first year... we got to be realistic. But if we pull off a win against Tampines, we are just two points off them so a top-three finish is definitely within our reach."
One area which the Cheetahs have to improve on is the scoring department. While they have the second-best defensive record in the league with just nine goals conceded, Aw's outfit are also one of the five teams who have failed to hit double digits in terms of goals scored this term.
The last time out, they spurned at least four clear-cut chances at 1-0 up and paid the price as Geylang International came back to salvage a 1-1 draw at Jalan Besar Stadium.
Tampines' Shakir Hamzah will miss this upcoming game due to his red card against Albirex. But Aw is still anticipating a tough game in store for his depleted side as they seek to avenge the 2-1 defeat earlier in the season.
Delwinder Singh and Ali Hudzaifi are to serve out one-game suspensions, Iqbal Hussain and M. Anumanthan remains unavailable due to National Service, while captain Nurhilmi Jasni is recovering from his collarbone injury.
"Our squad is quite thin but that also gives the youngsters more opportunities to play," said Aw."Players like Amir [Zalani], Lionel [Tan] and Antoine [Viterale] are showing good progress since they first came into the team, so we should be ready and we're more than capable of beating [Tampines]."
Young French-Italian forward Viterale is expected to start upfront again, but Aw is not closing the door on the more experienced Spanish forward Pablo Rodriguez just yet.
The latter had started just four out of the nine Cheetahs' matches this season and has yet to find the back of the net since his move from Indonesia's Madura United.
"The players know that they have to perform consistently in training so that they can get into the team," Aw explained. "It's a strange situation for Pablo as he's used to be the main man in any team or country that he plays in, but now finds himself out of the team.
"But I'll never close the door on any player; the chance is always there as long as he shows in training and he have to take it."