The Jordanians had signalled their intent early in the game as Abdallah Nassib glanced his third minute header across the face of goal but, also, agonisingly wide of the far post.

It took barely 11 more minutes for the hosts to take the lead, Noor Al Rewabdeh laying the ball off to Al Tamari on the edge of the area and the Montpellier forward made no mistake with a pinpoint strike low into the bottom corner of Sulaiman Abdulghafoor’s goal.

Jordan threatened again in the 21st minute but Mahmoud Al Mardi’s overhead kick was placed too centrally and flew into the arms of a grateful Abdulghafoor standing on his goal line.

The Kuwaitis almost claimed an equaliser in the final action of the first half, Athbi Shehab heading straight at Jordan goalkeeper Yazeed Abulaila at the end of a cleverly worked free kick routine that opened up the home defence.

Three minutes after the restart Mahmoud Al Mardi squandered the opportunity to double Jordan’s lead, the captain firing high over the bar from 10 yards after being found in space inside the penalty area.

Kuwait had carried only an intermittent threat but, with 11 minutes to go, Faisal Al Harbi’s free kick from 25 yards out was just too high of Abulaila’s goal.

Referee Adel Al Naqbi awarded Jordan a penalty in the dying minutes when Ali Olwan was brought down, only for the decision to be overturned with a VAR review. But moments later the official from the United Arab Emirates was pointing to the spot at the other end.

Moath Al Enazi was bundled over unnecessarily in the area by Yazan Al Arab and Al Sulaiman stepped up to confidently beat Abulaila to earn his nation an important point.