Since the departure of coach Saswadimata Dasuki from the Home United helm earlier this month, his temporary replacement Noh has endured a mixed run of results.

A fine 3-0 home win over Geylang International last Wednesday was the perfect introduction to the hotseat for the former assistant coach, but Saturday's 4-0 loss at Albirex Niigata Singapore would have returned the 38-year-old Noh to reality with a bump.

"It was obviously not a good result for our boys," the former Singapore full-back admitted to The Straits Times.

Ahead of the Matchday Five fixtures, 10 of the sides remain in the hunt for top-two finishes and the chance of reaching the competition’s knockout stages.

With Oman's Al Suwaiq the only side to have officially been eliminated from the competition, we will be a step closer to finding out which four West Asian sides reach the knock-out stages by the end of the six Matchday Five fixtures across Groups A, B and C on Monday and Tuesday.

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.

It’s been a week of celebrations in the Lao capital for Lao New Year and the home side was aiming to keep the celebrations going as they looked to end their 12-match winless run in the AFC Cup, a streak that dates back to 2016.

The celebrations continued early when the home side took a surprise lead, with Rafael heading home from Saison Khounsamnan’s corner in the 11th minute to give hope to Jun Fukuda and his team.

In what was a clash of Group H’s top two teams, the game handed the winners the chance to open up a three-point lead on the losers and in turn secure the potentially important better head-to-head record.

A handball by Kaya defender Jalsor Soriano opened the door for Makassar in the 14th minute but a well-worked free kick came to nothing as Muhammad Rachmat’s pass into the penalty area narrowly avoided finding Eero Markkanen just a few yards out from goal.

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.