The first half was an entertaining affair as both sides went on the offensive, with Tainan’s Facundo Aranda testing Kyaw Zin Phyo with a fifth minute curler before the Shan United custodian made an excellent block to deny Matheus Porto from an acute angle.

At the other end, Pan Wen-Chieh also had to pull off several saves, bravely diving at the feet of Khun Kyaw Zin Hein in the 15th minute as the midfielder bore down on goal before making a one-on-one save against Mark Sekyi.

The game’s opener came in the 39th minute when Kuo Po-Wei surged through on the right before squaring for Mohammed Sakkouh, whose shot hit the underside of the bar before landing in the net to give Tainan the lead.

The Chinese Taipei side struck again four minutes later when Sakkouh took advantage of Zwe Khant Min’s air-kick to drive towards goal before finding Diocounda Gory for a simple tap-in.

After the interval, the game only got going again in the 67th minute when Sakkouh fed Porto for a spectacular curler from range that looked to be heading for the top corner before a flying Zin Phyo clawed the ball away.

A minute later, Shan United pulled a goal back when a corner delivery fell to Mauricio Oliveira whose scuffed shot fell kindly for Ye Min Thu to sweep home.

The Southeast Asian side’s best chance of salvaging a point came with 10 minutes of regulation time left to play when Ye dribbled away from two defenders to cut into the box but saw his shot turned away by an alert Pan as Tainan held on for the win.