Goals from 2019 AFC Cup leading scorer Bienvenido Marañón of Ceres and Hanoi FC's Pape Omar Faye meant the spoils were shared in the ASEAN Zonal Semi-final first leg tie at Panaad Stadium.

And, while Porteria did praise the effort from his team, Ceres would have been disappointed not to have capitalised on more of their chances, with the away goal meaning the Vietnamese club have a slim advantage.

Risto Vidakovic’s side took the lead through Bienvenido Marańon just before the hour mark, but the visitors returned fire through Senegalese forward Pape Omar Faye to earn a share of the spoils and a potentially vital away goal at Panaad Stadium.

The two sides will meet again at Hanoi’s Hang Day Stadium next Tuesday, with the winners to advance to the ASEAN Zonal final.

Nguyen Tien Linh scored 10 minutes from time to ensure the Vietnamese side will take a slender lead into the second leg in Indonesia next Wednesday.

The win was achieved despite Nguyen Thanh Son’s side being a player down for much of the second half after Nguyen Trun Tin was sent off.

Al Jazeera were hopeful of taking home a result that could help them reach the West Zonal final for the second time running, but they faced the challenge of an Al Jaish side that had not lost in their last eight AFC Cup games.

The Jordanians started brightly and were in complete control for the first 25 minutes, threatening first through Abdullah Al Attar’s header which narrowly missed the target, then through Omar Al Manasrah’s long range strike.

Both sides looked to improve on their most recent AFC Cup campaigns. Al Ahed had been eliminated at the same stage last year whereas Al Wehdat suffered the same fate in 2017 and missed out on the 2018 AFC Cup.

Al Wehdat came racing out of the blocks, and within three minutes, they had their first sight of goal.

But while the three points gained by Khujand put them level with Istiklol on the Group D table, Altyn Asyr’s later victory over Dordoi FC means Khujand are now unable to top the group due to their inferior head-to-head records against both Istiklol and Altyn Asyr.

The Pyongyang side made it five wins in a row and will be a force to be reckoned with in the Inter-Zone semi-finals, having fallen to Altyn Asyr in the 2018 final.

It was Hang Yuan's fifth consecutive defeat and the Chinese Taipei club will be looking to earn their first point when they play Tai Po on Matchday Six.