After taking an early lead, the Vietnamese side quickly fell behind but showed all their class and quality with a stirring comeback to keep within striking distance of Tampines Rovers, who sit three points clear at the top of Group F.

Having lost to the Myanmar champions in their previous Group F encounter two weeks ago, the Vietnamese side knew they had to collect all three points to keep alive their hopes of progressing from the group stage, a feat they haven’t achieved since 2014.

With that in mind the visitors made the perfect start when they took the lead in just the third minute when star midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai squared the ball across the box, allowing Pape Omar Faye a simple tap in at the back post.

The three points ensured that the Singapore side maintained a three-point lead over second-placed Hanoi FC.

There was a dream start for the home side when they took the lead after three minutes. Zehrudin Mehmedovic played a perfectly weight pass into the path of Irwan Shah, who prodded the ball past Sou Yaty.

The 22-year-old Mansaray, a former U-18 and U-20 international for the USA, had previous stints with MLS sides Seattle Sounders and FC Cincinnati, before arriving in Vietnam at the start of the current V-League 1 season.

While he could be forgiven for basking in the limelight given his outstanding individual showing, Mansaray is already focusing on the next game.

“It is a special feeling for sure, and I’ll just let it sink in,” he told the-AFC.com.

It’s been a slow start to their AFC Cup campaign for last year’s ASEAN Zone champions, Home United, with just one win from their first three matches.

One mitigating factor has been the prolonged absence of key man Song, one of the standout players in last year’s competition and a player who contributed five goals in the group stage in 2018, finishing with nine goals overall.

But having recovered from a groin complaint that saw him miss the first three matches of this year’s campaign, Song returned for Home United on Wednesday and made an immediate impact for The Protectors.

The clash on Wednesday pitted the top two sides in Group H against each other and after conceding a late goal in their home game against Kaya earlier in April, Makassar looked determined from the outset to stamp their authority on the contest.

After Rizky Pellu’s header opened the scoring in the 21st minute, Finnish striker Eero Markkanen doubled the away side’s lead just three minutes later and, from there, the platform for the Indonesian side to go on and eventually win the match was set.