Russian Premier League leaders Zenit St Petersburg title claims suffered a setback on Sunday after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Rubin Kazan.
Andre Villas-Boas' Zenit remained atop the table with 55 points from 23 matches, eight ahead of the second-placed FC Krasnodar.
Reigning champions CSKA Moscow, who face bottom-placed Amkar Perm on Monday, sit third, four points behind FC Krasnodar.
"It was important to get this point bearing in mind the fact that we played with 10-man," the former Porto, Chelsea and Tottenham manager Villas-Boas said.
"Of course we're disappointed with the result. But it's very difficult to play with the referee making a mistake like he did with Rubin's goal.
"That means that we should work harder to become the champions."
Rubin got off to a flying start as their Bulgarian playmaker Blagoy Georgiev helped the ball on to Elmir Nabiullin in the area and the defender hammered past Zenit 'keeper Yury Lodygin three minutes into the match.
Zenit levelled in the 48th minute when they were awarded a penalty after Nabiullin brought Igor Smolnikov down in the box.
Brazilian forward Hulk pulled the scores level with a precise spotkick sending Rubin goalkeeper Sergei Ryzhikov the wrong way to grab the lead in the league's scorers chart with 12 goals.
In the 58th minute Zenit were reduced to 10 men as their Italian left back Domenico Criscito was sent off for a second bookable offence.
In the 86th minute Zenit created a clear chance when Oleg Shatov found skipper Miguel Danny in the box with a pinpoint pass but Ryzhikov parried his unopposed eight-metre shot.
"Both clubs had chances to win the match but the draw looks to be the most fair result," Rubin head coach Rinat Bilyaletdinov said.
Later on Sunday Dynamo Moscow beat 2-1 Mordovia Saransk.
Dynamo, who were without their injured French playmaker Mathieu Valbuena, experienced problems in attack but scored twice before the break from Balazs Dzsudzsak's corners.
Brazilian back Douglas opened the score in the 42nd minute sending the ball home with a header, while German forward Kevin Kuranyi made it 2-0 for Dynamo in stoppage time when he fired under the crossbar from the edge of the six-yard box.
Mordovia's Brazilian substitute midfielder Richard Danilo pulled one back with four minutes to go but failed to save the day for the guests.
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