Despite the draw, however, the result extends Lao Toyota’s winless run in the AFC Cup to 10 matches, with their last win coming back in 2016.

For Kaya FC it was their first time in the AFC Cup since 2016 and they started the better of the two teams, forcing Outthilath Nammakhoth into a number of early saves in the Lao Toyota goal.

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.

The Indonesian champions had chances of their own before the Vietnamese side piled on the pressure in the late stages but failed to find the winning goal.

After a lively but scrappy start to the game, Persija’s Bruno Matos had the fans on their feet with some sublime skill taking him past a few challenges but the move came to nothing.

Ceres have made it to the knockout round in each of the past three seasons, but the hosts were given an early scare after 13 minutes when Maycon clipped home a one-on-one for Shan.

The Brazilian was adjudged to have strayed narrowly offside when running onto a Zin Min Tun through ball though, and so things remained scoreless.

Hanoi took the lead in spectacular style after just six minutes. Following a corner, the ball was fed back to Do Duy Manh, who smashed a shot from 30 yards in off the underside of the bar.

It didn’t take long for the hosts to add a second. Nguyen Quang Hai’s backheel found its way to Nguyen Van Dung on the left and his low cross was tapped in by Ganiyu Oseni.

It only took 13 minutes for the scoring to get underway at Thuwunna Stadium, as Sekou Sylla received a Htoo Khant Lwin throw-in from the right, dropped the shoulder to turn his marker Amirul Adli with ease, and then slammed home past Tampines goalkeeper Syazwan Buhari from an acute angle to give Yangon, ASEAN Zonal semi-finalists last year, the lead.

The two sides were pitted in the same group for the second year running, and Malkiya produced a repeat of the result they got at the same ground in the 2018 edition.

Unlike ten months ago, it was Al Suwaiq who opened the scoring this time. The hosts’ first big chance of the game resulted in a goal.

A solo effort from winger Thamir Al Zaabi saw him dribble past two defenders then deliver a cross from the right flank that veteran Muhsen Al Ghassani met on the volley from close range to put Al Suwaiq in front halfway through the opening period.