Tampines got off to a flyer, opening the scoring after just 15 seconds, taking four passes from the kick-off for Takeshi Yoshimoto to create space for Hide Higashikawa to evade Jonathan Aspropotamitis before curling past Yoon Pyung-guk.

Pohang had the opportunity for a quick equaliser, Paik Sung-dong’s corner three minutes later was met by Lee Dong-hee’s header but it lacked the power to trouble Syazwan Buhari in Tampines’ goal.

The K-League 1 side seized control of the match and kept the Tampines defence busy with Dylan Fox needing a last-ditch block to deny An Jae-jun before the defender was in the right place at the right time to clear off the line in the 30th minute from another An effort.

Pohang head coach Park Tae-ha sent on Cho Sang-hyeok and Kim In-sung for the second half with the former immediately getting into the thick of the action, powering through on 48 minutes to fire a low shot that was saved by Syazwan.

The away side continued to dominate but were misfiring in front of goal, Dong-hee blazing a shot over in the 58th minute before a superb sliding block from Shuya Yamashita denied Cho from close range.

Tampines, however, kept up their defensive resolve to nullify Pohang until the final whistle to take the win.