Albirex Niigata (S) got their 2015 TNP League Cup campaign off to a perfect start on Monday after claiming a smash-and-grab 2-0 win over Home United in Group C.
Despite coming under severe pressure at the Jurong East Stadium for much of the 90 minutes, the White Swans were somehow able to claim maximum points thanks to goals from Itsuki Yamada and Kento Nagasaki in the last ten minutes.
The result almost certainly secures their place in the semifinals of the tournament, given that they are expected to win their other Group C game against National Football League (NFL) outfit GFA Sporting Westlake.
For the Protectors, their bid to win a first-ever League Cup title is likely to fall short again, and they will be left wondering how they did not emerge triumphant on Monday.
The visitors completely dominated proceedings in the opening 45 and regularly threatened the opposition goal, with Ken Ilso, Sirina Camara and Kamel Ramdani all coming close.
The trend continued after half-time and they were unlucky not to break the deadlock two minutes after the hour mark when Ambroise Begue found space on the edge of the box, before curling a sublime effort that cannoned off the bar.
Three minutes later, the Protectors came close again -- this time through Ramdani -- as he lashed a left-footed half-volley into the post, before his follow-up effort was blocked on the line by Itsuki Yamada.
But their biggest miss came in the 77th minute when Camara's brilliant cross from the left picked out an unmarked Stanely Ng, only for him to drill his shot wide from six yards out.
The hosts made them pay in the 80th minute, when Yamada pounced on a loose ball inside the area and forced his way through, before squeezing the ball past the onrushing Shahril Jantan.
And deep into injury-time, Albirex made sure of the result as substitute Nagasaki cut in from the right, before bending a lovely left-footed shot into the top corner.
Speaking after the match, Home boss Philippe Aw admitted they only had themselves to blame for the loss, although he found several positives from their display.
"Of course, I'm very disappointed," he said. "We dominated the match but this is what happens when you don't finish the many chances you create -- this is football. But we came with a game plan and it worked; the boys were fantastic and to be honest there weren't many deficiencies in our game today."
Meanwhile, Albirex boss Tatsuyuki Okuyama admits there is still plenty of room for improvement from his players.
"I'm satisfied with the result but not the performance," the Japanese said. "We made too many mistakes, especially in the first half, and as a result we were a bit tired in the second half.
"It definitely could have been a better display but we find something to improve on in every game... step by step, we get better and I can say we were better in this game than we were in our last game before the break."
Albirex Niigata (S): Yosuke Nozawa, Rui Kumada (Yusuke Mukai 89'), Takahiro Saito, Kento Fujihara, Itsuki Yamada, Hikaru Mizuno, Shun Inaba, Fumiya Kogure, Atsushi Kawata, Rion Taki, Shotaro Ihata (Kento Nagasaki 78').
Home United: Shahril Jantan, Ang Zhiwei, Abdil Qaiyyim, R. Aaravin, Sirina Camara, Juma'at Jantan, Song Ui-young, Stanely Ng (Fazli Ayob 79'), Kamel Ramdani (Yasir Hanapi 68'), Ambroise Begue (Azhar Sairudin 81'), Ken Ilso.