Both teams are vying for their first appearance in the Group Stage and were evenly matched in the first half. However, they struggled to find the back of the net with the score 0-0 at half-time.

Ryomyong defeated Mongolia’s Erchim FC 6-0 on aggregate in the Preliminary Stage, but the Koreans could not find a way past Tai Po - who are appearing in the Continental competition after nearly nine years - in the second half.

The Indonesian champions failed to make the most of home advantage in the Group G encounter and the Vietnamese side will certainly be satisfied with a point from a tricky away fixture.

Competing in the AFC Cup for the first time in their 103-year history, the Indonesian side took a first half lead before being pegged back by a stunning second half strike from 20-year-old Hami Syahin.

Despite pushing hard to find a winner late in the game and forcing Rudy Khairullah into a number of fine saves, the six-time Indonesian league champions had to settle for a point away from home, a result Kalezić was happy to accept after the game.

The Jordanian side had marked their return to the competition with a hard-fought victory over Nejmeh at King Abdullah II Stadium on Monday.

Just 48 hours before their first continental encounter, Al Wehdat had to navigate an away trip to Irbid where they defeated Al Sareeh 4-2 in the domestic league. And coach Yakoubi was adamant that fixture congestion had impacted his side’s preparations for the Nejmeh clash.

Ceres were beaten in the ASEAN Zonal Finals by Home United of Singapore last year – the opponent over whom they triumphed at the same stage in 2017 – and have made it to the knockout stage in each of the past three years.

As far as Vidakovic was concerned their 3-2 win against Shan to get up and running in Group G was too close for comfort though, and he wants an improvement in the next game if the team are to continue their strong form in continental competition.

The Singaporean side made the final of the ASEAN Zone for the past two years, winning last year’s tie against Ceres Negros to advance to the Inter-zone semi-finals, and coming into this year’s campaign they once again have ambitions of going deep into the tournament.

It was the home side that started the brightest too, with Adam Swandi pouncing on an errant back pass to force a fine save out of Rivki Mokodompit.