Persija Jakarta are a good team and I think in this tournament they are the favourites, but as a team we played together and followed the coach’s plan. When I came on as a sub, the coach told me to try and shoot, so I did and unexpectedly it went in the back of the net. We are looking forward to the next game against them at their home.

Hafiz Nor (above, left) came off the bench to score the decisive goal in the 3-2 victory over Persija Jakarta, and the Home United midfielder reveals he had words of advice from coach Aidil Sharin.

Persija’s last trip to Singapore just two weeks ago resulted in a 4-2 victory over Tampines Rovers, but this time round at they found themselves two down inside 10 minutes and, despite dominating much of the game, returned to the Indonesian capital in need of another strong performance at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

Home United opened the scoring in the second minute when Shahril Ishak cut inside Novri Setiawan down the right and delivered a teasing cross which the unfortunate Maman Abdurrahman headed into his own net.

Then in the ninth minute Song Ui-young burst past Abdurrahman and found himself clear on goal after Vava Yagalo lost his footing, but the midfielder still had work to do and remained composed to slip the ball past goalkeeper Rizky Darmawan and into the bottom left corner.

Persija came back into the game as the half wore on and Yagalo headed just over from Ismed Sofyan’s corner from the right in the 27th minute.

The Indonesian side’s pressure soon paid off, though, as five minutes later Ramdhani Lestaluhu headed home Riko Simanjuntak’s corner from the left to throw the tie wide open.

Ceres were on top from the start and Manny Ott came close in the seventh minute when he curled a free-kick just wide from the edge of the penalty area.

Stephan Schrock could have opened the scoring just minutes later but shot over after being played through by Maranon, before Sekou Sylla fired wide down the other end midway through the half in a rare sight of goal for the visitors.

The hosts then took the lead in the 29th minute with a stunning effort from Spaniard Maranon, who raced on to a throughball from Manny Ott, looked up and lifted a delicate chip over the stranded goalkeeper Sann Sat Naing from the right side of the area.

Ceres went two up less than five minutes later when Mike Ott’s strike from distance was parried out by the Yangon custodian, only for midfielder Patrick Reichelt to be at the right place at the right time to finish from close in.

As half-time approached, Maranon tapped home his second from a yard out after Manny Ott’s corner from the right found its way to the forward at the back post.

Air Force made their attacking intent clear from the start and were in front inside five minutes after a quick break. Amjed Radhi supplied a through pass for skipper Hammadi Ahmed who squared first-time to Emad Mohsin whose finish was blocked by the defence before falling into the path of Radhi, who was left with a simple tap-in into the empty net for his sixth AFC Cup goal of the season.

Ahmed doubled his side’s lead one minute before the end of regulation time, taking advantage of a defensive mix-up to snatch the ball from goalkeeper Mehdi Khalil with a well-taken header from outside the area.

There was still time for the Iraqis to add to their winning margin as substitute Karrar Ali embarked on a jinking run down the left flank before being brought down inside the penalty box by Ghanaian midfielder Issah Yakubu. Another substitute, Salih Sadir stepped up and confidently slotted home from the spot to make it 3-0.

Al Ahed pulled one back in the third minute of added time through Mohammad Kdouh who chested in Hussein Al Zein’s cross from the right wing following a well-worked free-kick to wrong foot goalkeeper Fahad Talib and give his side a glimmer of hope for the return leg.

Kdouh’s all-important away goal for Al Ahed means there is still a battle to be fought in Beirut next week as the Lebanese side look to reverse a two-goal disadvantage.

Musa Al Taamari’s fifth goal of the campaign fired Al Jazeera in front inside 14 minutes. The winger broke free on the right flank to latch onto Abdullah Al Attar’s pass behind Al Faisaly defence. He then showed some excellent close control skills to move past the defender and apply a composed finish from a tight angle to beat goalkeeper Moataz Yaseen.

Al Jazeera were dealt a blow in the 26th minute when Syrian midfielder Mardik Mardikian was shown a straight red card for an elbow on Al Faisaly captain Ibrahim Al Zawahreh.

The visitors from the capital Amman capitalise on their one-man advantage and grabbed an equaliser three minutes before the half time break through Lukasz Gikiewicz. The Polish striker lost his marker inside the box and expertly took his header from Yousef Al Rawashdeh’s cross to net his fourth goal of the 2018 AFC Cup season.

Anas Bani Yaseen nearly caught Al Jazeera goalkeeper Ahmad Nawwas off-guard with a long-range strike four minutes from time, but the hosts’ custodian was alert and made the save.

The two teams lock horns again next week when Al Faisaly will have the advantage of an away goal as they fight for a place in the Zonal Final against the winner between Air Force Club and Al Ahed.