A vastly improved performance by Malaysia was spoiled by crowd trouble that saw their AFC World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia brought to a premature end at Shah Alam Stadium, near Kuala Lumpur.
With less than three minutes of regulation time left and Malaysia trailing 2-1, flares were thrown onto the pitch, causing both teams to walk off the field, ending the match early.
Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) now face possible sanctions from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) as the unsavoury incident is investigated. It's the last thing that Malaysian football needed after a turbulent week.
Earlier, the Malaysians dug deep against the three-time Asian champions under interim boss Ong Kim Swee.
The resilient display came just five days after Malaysia fell to a record 10-0 defeat against United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi.
U23 coach Ong took over as caretaker boss on Saturday from Dollah Salleh and was able to drastically tighten up a leaky defence that had conceded 17 goals in their previous three games.
Captain Safiq Rahim put the home side ahead in the 70th minute before Saudi Arabia scored two goals in three minutes to race to a 2-1 lead.
With a brand new back four that saw Australian-born Matthew Davies given a debut at right back, Malaysia held the nation which has qualified for four World Cups goalless in the first half. But they conceded twice after the break as the Saudis made it three wins out of three in Group A.
Ong went with a completely revamped back four and only five survivors from last Thursday's game in Abu Dhabi -- Khairul Fahmi Che Mat, S.Kunalan, Junior Eldstal, Safiq Rahim and Amri Yahyah. Amri played on his own upfront.
Defending deep and riding their luck at times, Malaysia battled hard in the first 45 minutes against a Saudi side who'd won their previous qualifier 7-0 against Timor-Leste.
At half-time, Ong brought on Wan Zack Haikal in the place of Kunalan as Harimau Malaya stuck to their compact ways.
The match sprung to life midway through the second half when a Malaysian counter-attack involving Amri and a cut back from Wan Zack saw skipper Safiq give the hosts a shock lead.
But the Saudi Arabia were quick to hit back. Three minutes later, a Taisser Al Jassim volley put them on level terms.
And then, after hitting the bar after yet more pressure, the Saudis took a deserved 2-1 lead after forward Mohammed Al-Sahlawi beat Che Mat in the 76th minute.
The game seemed to be petering out when flares were thrown onto the Shah Alam pitch by disgruntled fans, who had threatened protests before the game against bungling local administrators. The players marched off the pitch and the game was officially abandoned.
With the result likely to stand as is, Saudi Arabia will go top of Group A on nine points from three matches while Malaysia will stay bottom with one point from four games.