Napoli suffered a blow to its Scudetto hopes despite Scott McTominay salvaging a 1-1 draw away to Parma.

McTominay buried a snapshot into the bottom-left corner on the hour mark, snatching a point on the road that left his side six behind Serie A leaders Inter Milan.

Parma needed just 33 seconds to take the lead, with Nesta Elphege flicking on Zion Suzuki's long kick for Gabriel Strefezza to race through and curl past Vanja Milinkovic-Savic's outstretched dive to his left.

Napoli struggled to create any clear first-half chances in response, with Rasmus Hojlund going close from Kevin De Bruyne's corner on the stroke of half-time.

Matteo Politano blasted off target in the second half before Hojlund laid off Stanislav Lobotka's first-time pass for McTominay to fire low past Suzuki from the right of the box and equalise.

Alisson Santos then clipped the near post from a tight angle before Parma's penalty appeals for an Alessandro Buongiorno handball fell on deaf ears.

Milinkovic-Savic still had to be alert late on, tipping over Mandela Keita's ferocious drive, while Eljif Elmas wasted a headed chance at the other end in a cruel blow for Napoli's Scudetto hopes.

Napoli head coach Antonio Conte remains adamant his side still has a chance of retaining its Serie A title, despite the defeat.

"The dream is not extinguished, there are six games left, and Inter still have to play," he said.

"It's a bold dream, seeing Inter's numbers so far, and it's linked to those in front of us.

"We continue to do what we are doing, we come from five wins, and we drew on a difficult field. It's a shame, because we could have put 2 more points."

While Conte bemoaned Parma's early goal, he could not fault his side's attitude, even as their five-match winning streak came to an end.

"We knew we would find a team with a very low block, the approach had to be different, we had to be more careful," he added.

"If you concede that goal after 30 seconds, the game is uphill. We shouldn't have allowed Parma to take the lead.

"[But] the boys gave it their all, I have little to reproach in terms of desire, commitment and determination."