Warriors FC have opened up a four-point lead over Brunei DPMM FC in the S.League after beating Tampines Rovers FC 2-1 at the Choa Chu Kang stadium on Thursday night.
But Warriors have only one match in the season remaining compared to three for Steve Kean's DPMM FC.
Alex Weaver's men suffered an early blow when Noh Alam Shah glanced a header off a Shaiful Esah corner-kick to the give the visitors the lead but they refused to cave in as they mounted a series of attacks.
They were rewarded seven minutes later when former Singapore international Agu Casmir cut in from the left. He rifled a peach of a shot into the top corner to level the game and put the Warriors back into title contention mode.
The rest of the half fizzled out with neither team able to gain a stronghold on possession with a couple of petty fouls across the pitch. Shaiful was lucky to escape a red card when he apparently kicked out at Miroslav Pejic on the stroke of half-time.
The second period saw the Warriors introduce winger Suria Prakash in place of the hardworking Agu. But Weaver's men had to wait till the 80th minute when Nicholas Velez was fouled just outside the box and Pejic punished Rafi Ali's team with a perfectly struck free-kick that sailed past Justin Pasfield in goal.
Tampines tried to muster a comeback. But, with defender Kunihiro Yamashita sent off in the dying seconds of the game, it was too little too late for Rafi Ali's charges.
Speaking to sleague.com after the game, Weaver was elated with his team's run of good form that has seen them take full advantage of DPMM's absence from league action due to their commitments in the qualifying tournament for the AFF Suzuki Cup in Laos.
"The ball is still in their [DPMM] court as they just need to win their games," Weaver said. "Because they have got the games in hand, there is a little bit of pressure on them. They know they can't slip up," said Weaver.
"We've done very well today. Our players have dealt with the situation exceptionally. We have talked about thinking correctly under pressure a lot throughout the season focusing on what we can control and they have done that very well recently."
The Englishman also picked out Agu's goal and lauded the striker's capabilities in front of goal when he added: "With a player like him, he's capable of that, he does it in training. One of his qualities is that he's quite unpredictable and the opposition don't really know what's going to happen, sometimes I don't know what's going to happen and he's pulled that one out."
As for defending champions Tampines, Rafi knows that his team will soon have to relinquish their S.League crown. But he was adamant that his charges went out with a bang.
"Everything has to come to an end. The most important thing today is the boys played their hearts out," Rafi said. "We started off very good, early goal from Alam Shah, he was fantastic. The equaliser was scored, but it is done, we have been playing consistently now and hope we learn from there. After the mistake we did very well, working hard, going forward."
Across the causeway, Harimau Muda B slumped to 5-0 defeat at the hands of Tanjong Pagar United FC and will finish the season at the foot of the table.
The Jaguars goals came from Asraf Rashid, Monsef Zerka, Hafiz Osman and a brace from Sebastien Etiemble.
Warriors have played two more games than Brunei DPMM FC and will take on Albirex Niigata Singapore FC in their final match at home on Oct. 31. Their hope is that the S.League trophy will be presented after a victory at the Choa Chu Kang stadium to deny former Blackburn manager Kean's Bruneian outfit becoming only the second foreign team to lift the Singapore title.