Geylang International pulled off a surprise 1-0 victory over Albirex Niigata (S) in their final League Cup Group B match at Bedok Stadium on Friday night, with Shawal Anuar scoring the winner via a stunning first-half lob.
However, the result was not enough for the Eagles to enter the tournament's last four. Instead, it was Home United who progressed by virtue of better goal difference after grabbing a late equaliser to hold Balestier Khalsa 2-2 in the other group game on Friday.
Despite missing several players due to suspensions and international duty, Geylang took the game to Albirex and should have gone ahead in the fourth minute.
Shawal was released through on goal by a defence-splitting pass from Mark Hartmann, but Albirex goalkeeper Eita Kasagawa rushed out well to cover his angles.
The Eagles nearly conceded six minutes later though, with custodian Hairul Syirhan getting across his goal well to push wide Tatsuro Inui's curling 30-yard free kick.
Both sides traded chances soon after. Shawal forced another good save from Kasagawa while Albirex wide man Tadaaki Yazawa hit the bar with an over-hit cross.
The deadlock was broken on 32 minutes, with Shawal pouncing on a poor Kasagawa clearance to produce an inch-perfect 35-yard lob to put the Eagles ahead.
Albirex toiled hard to come back in the second half, but Kazuki Mine and company were well contained by the Geylang centre-back pairing of Shariff Samat and Yuki Ichikawa.
The White Swans only began to find more openings after the 70th minute mark. Geylang captain Isa Halim had to clear off his line during a goalmouth melee while Inui's fierce 20-yard drive escaped the left-hand post by inches.
Geylang held on for the three points, which ensured they finish third in Group B and set up a Plate semifinal meeting with Warriors FC.
Eagles' coach Hasrin Jailani was heartened to see his side bounce back from the heavy 5-0 defeat to Home just four days ago.
"Coming back from that result wasn't an easy thing," said the former Singapore international. "The players showed a lot of character. They played according to how I want them to play.
"They made sure they were collective as a defensive unit and they really worked their socks off. Now we're in the Plate competition and we'll try to win it, just like how we try to win every game. Of course as a club, we want to win something this year."
Meanwhile, Albirex counterpart Naoki Naruo was disappointed with his side's rare defeat, but backed them to produce a positive response against Tampines Rovers in the Cup semifinals.
"I thought we could showed more of our football tonight, but perhaps due to the weather and pitch condition, we did not perform well," said the 41-year-old.
"For the semifinal, we'll be playing at our home ground at Jurong West. We lost the last time we faced Tampines, so this is a good time for us to avenge that defeat. The team's condition is very good now and we'll show our best in that game."
Geylang International: Hairul Syirhan (GK), B. Jeevakumaran, Shariff Samat, Yuki Ichikawa, Anders Aplin, Isa Halim (C), Robert Camarasa (Taufiq Ghani 67'), Umar Akhbar (Julien Prince 76'), Shawal Anuar, Mark Hartmann, Stanely Ng (Indra Sahdan 89')
Albirex Niigata (S): Eita Kasagawa (GK), Mikiya Yamada (Naofumi Tanaka 65'), Kento Fujihara, Shuto Inaba, Tomoki Menda, Kazuki Mine, Tatsuro Inui (C), Tadaaki Yazawa, Ryoh Kurihara, Hiroyoshi Kamata (Ryuki Matsuya 87'), Rui Kumada