As a send off for the Tiger Cup, it was less a prelude to glory than expectation dampener as Singapore ground out a 0-0 draw with Hong Kong before losing out on penalties in the Tiger International Football Festival.

It was an uninspiring display from the Lions, who depart Friday for Vietnam and the long awaited Tiger Cup. Indeed, Radojko Avramovic’s men were fortunate to get away with the stalemate after visitors Hong Kong nearly checkmated them in the closing minutes.

If it was Hong Kong who looked more threatening in front of goal, the Lions had themselves only to blame as they over elaborated with their own opportunities, making a mess of them in the process.

That flaw was glaringly exposed in the 10th minute, when Agu Casmir sidefooted Indra Sahdan’s cross wide from inside the six-yard box instead of tapping it home with his instep.

The delivery from the flanks was hardly more impressive either, with Muhammad Ridhuan on the right and Itimi Dickson on the left leaving Agu and Indra with plenty of work to do to retrieve their crosses.

Still, Singapore continued to carve out chances and defender Daniel Bennett sent a stiff freekick just wide. The visitors had their own opportunity through a set-piece as Poon Yiu Cheuk curled his freekick over Lionel’s goal.

Hong Kong grew more confident as the Lions began to lose their way, and a poor bit of defending allowed Kwok Yue Hung in before the break. But the forward blasted his angled shot high and wide.

A penalty appeal for the home side was waved away by referee Phaengsupha Natthanai despite the fact that Itimi Dickson clearly appeared to have been tripped in the box. A later appeal for handball inside the area was also ignored by the referee.

Substitutes Imran Sahib and Noh Alam Shah combined in the box to force some brave goalkeeping from Hong Kong’s Fan Chun Yip, and Alam Shah came close after that with an exquisite dragback on the touchline that left Fan grasping air. But his cross into the box was cleared off the line by the Hong Kong defence.

Fan then had his fingers stung by a fierce drive from distance from Goh Tat Chuan, and the keeper was on hand again to palm away Baihakki Khaizan’s header.

It was Hong Kong though who were to have the better chances in the closing period. First Chan had his effort blocked by a brave save from Lionel with Hong Kong forward clear, then Feng Ji Zhi struck the post with his header.

Singapore survived to penalties though, where Khairul Amri missed the Lions’ sixth kick to hand the visitors the shootout win.