Glentoran's title ambitions suffered another blow as they were held to a goalless draw by ten-man Glenavon.
The Glens struggled after a bright start when Terry Devlin was twice denied by Rory Brown, and even when Jordan Stewart was dismissed late on they failed to find a breakthrough.
It was imperative Glentoran got themselves back to winning ways again after Saturday's defeat to Cliftonville, but they now 16 points off league leaders Larne with two games in hand.
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Rodney McAree made three changes to the side which started at Solitude with Jay Donnelly, James Singleton and Hrvoje Plum all handed starts.
The Lurgan Blues were also in desperate need of a win, their last victory coming on January 10th some nine games ago, with seven of those nine games ending in defeat.
The last of those came at home to Newry City at the weekend with Gary Hamilton bringing Matthew Snoddy, Aaron Rogers, Jack Malone and Sean Ward back into the starting 11.
The hosts almost got off to the perfect start inside six minutes as Donnelly picked the unmarked Devlin out in front of goal, but somehow Brown denied him a certain goal with a superb save.
The keeper denied Devlin again from another header in the 15th minute before Sean Ward hooked the loose ball clear for a corner.
Niall McGinn forced Brown into another save in the 18th minute but that was to be his last action as he trudged off with an injury minutes later.
His replacement, Junior, almost unlocked the Glenavon defence before the half hour as his back heel released Conor McMenamin, but his low cross into the area just evaded Donnelly.
Conor Kerr found himself in the referee's notebook in the 53rd minute as he stopped Junior running on to Luke McCullough's long pass.
Glenavon finally rallied as Matthew Fitzpatrick tested Aaron McCarey with a rasping drive before the hour mark.
McMenamin tried to provide some inspiration for the hosts with a trademark break down the right-hand side on 64 minutes, but when he cut back inside he lashed his shot well over the bar.
The game burst into life with 16 minutes to go as Glenavon were reduced to ten men.
There was a coming together between Malone and Bobby Burns, with the Glentoran man ending up on the floor.
When he got up Stewart came over and pushed him to the ground again instigating a melee.
Stewart was shown a red card by referee Ben McMaster with Malone and Shay McCartan picking up yellows.
The Glens struggled to find a breakthrough with a McMenamin hacked off the line by Kerr the closest they came to a winner in the closing stages.
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