Burton Albion were held to their first home draw of the League One season as Scunthorpe United frustrated Nigel Clough's side at the Pirelli Stadium.
The Brewers had the better of the chances, with Liam Boyce twice denied by Jak Alnwick and Scott Fraser finding the Iron goalkeeper in inspired form at the death.
Matty Lund threatened to come back to haunt his former side for the Iron with a few sightings of goal, while the visitors had two goals chalked off.
But neither side could find a breakthrough, as Burton struggled to discover the same levels of performance that saw them past Premier League side Burnley in their midweek Carabao Cup triumph.
The Brewers reverted back to the same starting XI that began the 2-1 victory over Sunderland in their last League One outing, with Kyle McFadzean and Marvin Sordell coming back in for John Brayford and Jake Hesketh.
After the high of the midweek win over Burnley, it was perhaps a little unsurprising that Albion's start was more sluggish here, despite Nigel Clough warning his players about that drop-off in the build-up.
Passes were not sticking in the early stages, and a couple of players tried to do too much when finding an opening in the final third.
McFadzean hooked a half-chance over Alnwick's crossbar from a pre-worked corner routine, before the lively David Templeton forced a good save from the United keeper with a fierce drive from the left.
A clever Templeton pass then exposed a gap behind the Scunthorpe defence and Sordell raced onto the ball.
But he delayed as he broke into the box, and Cameron Burgess got back to snuff out the danger before Sordell could get a shot away.
At the other end, Scunthorpe had the ball in the back of the net when a rebound was converted after Dimitar Evtimov palmed out a shot - but the effort was chalked off for a foul.
Ex-Brewer Lund saw a low effort kept out by the Brewers keeper, and Evtimov then did well to thwart Lee Novak when he intercepted Sordell's back pass near to goal.
It was Albion who enjoyed more of the play before the break, even if it lacked the pace and accuracy of recent displays.
Boyce got a chance before the break when Fraser slipped him in behind, with Alnwick denying an outside-of-the-right-boot effort from the Northern Ireland international.
The not-quite-chances continued after the break, Sordell's low cross blocked before it could Templeton and Fraser taking too long over getting a shot away after Boyce played him in.
Lund looked the likeliest to make something happen against his former side, seeing a goalbound header clawed behind by the diving Evtimov.
He was substituted after an hour, having been booked in the first half and then escaped a second yellow for pulling Boyce back.
Andy Dales momentarily thought he had nudged Stuart McCall's side in front when he slotted home from close range - but the flag was up for offside.
Burton continued to press for a winner, with Akins blazing over and Boyce then forcing a solid reaction stop from Alnwick after he muscled his way past Cameron Burgess.
And they had their best chance to seal the three points in injury-time.
Fraser got his head down and burst through on goal, only to see Alnwick deny him with a brilliant save.
It was the last hurrah of a tight clash that see the Brewers extend their unbeaten League run to four games - and they will be back out on home soil in three days' time against Southend United.
