Ilves have extended their lead at the top of the Veikkausliiga Championship Group, but only marginally, as they had to come from behind to draw 2-2 away at HJK Helsinki.
The point takes Ilves two clear of Inter Turku, as they failed to take full advantage of Inter's 2-1 loss to SJK at the weekend. HJK stay just five points off the pace in fourth, but a third consecutive draw has really hampered their chances of regaining the title.
The Tampere side got off to the perfect start with a beautiful team move inside the first three minutes, which ended in Joona Veteli applying the neat finish under pressure.
But the home side hit back deep into first-half added time, when the ball was cleared to the edge of the area and met by Lucas Lingman. He caught it sweetly and it nestled in the bottom corner.
Two minutes into the second half, Ilves were the architects of their own downfall, giving the ball away deep in their own half, allowing Teemu Pukki to square to Alex Ring, who kept his composure to make it 2-1.
With 65 minutes on the clock, it was all square again - Maksim Stjopin played a nice one-two with Adeleke Akinyemi before shrugging off a challenge as he entered the area, and fired low into the bottom corner to equalise at 2-2.
Neither side could grab a winner, thus Ilves see their winning run end at five matches, but go unbeaten in six. HJK are now seven undefeated in the league, but those draws are holding them back in the title race.
On Sunday, Mariehamn went three matches unbeaten by winning 3-2 against Jaro on the road in a match between two teams whose survival was confirmed before this round of fixtures.
Late in the first half, Sergey Eremenko cancelled out Korede Adedoyin's opener for the visitors, only for Emmanuel Patut to restore the Aland Islanders' advantage in the first minute of the second half.
A red card for Erik Gunnarsson with nine minutes to play made things worse for Jaro, who went 3-1 down soon after courtesy of Leo Andersson. Michael Ogungbaro added a consolation in stoppage time but it wasn't enough to stop Mariehamn drawing level with Jaro on 28 points.
