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SINGAPORE : Singapore coach Radojko Avramovic called for patience and goals from his men on Tuesday, ahead of the side's third-round, Group 4 World Cup qualifier against Lebanon.
On Wednesday night at the National Stadium, the Lions delivered - at least in the first-half.
An eighth minute goal from Aleksandar Duric and a second from Fazrul Nawaz on 24 minutes sealed a 2-0 win over the Middle Eastern visitors and got Singapore's World Cup campaign back on track after last month's 2-0 loss at Saudi Arabia.
With Uzbekistan securing a 3-0 home win over the Saudis in Tashkent on Wednesday night, Singapore are now second in Group 4 on goal difference.
"It is a good win for us, and I'm pleased with the attitude and the will to win that the team displayed," said Avramovic at his post-match press conference.
But the Lions profligacy in front of goal - in a game littered with golden chances, against arguably Group 4's weakest side - may come back to haunt them in June.
Over a span of three weeks that month, Singapore will play Uzbekistan at home and in Tashkent, host the Saudis and then travel to Lebanon.
The Lions were firmly in the driving seat in the first period against Lebanon, with everything going according to plan.
But after the break, a tired-looking Singapore side allowed Lebanon to come at them, while spurning several gilt-edged chances to take the game beyond the visitors' reach.
While Avramovic acknowledged that the Lions wasted several good opportunities to get more goals, he was pleased with the fact that his men were able to fashion these chances in the first place.
"We created some excellent chances, and I'm very pleased with that," said the Serb.
"It is not easy to create chances against a team like Lebanon, and if we continue to create chances like this in our future games, we are sure to score a few of them.
"Goal difference can be a problem in the future, considering that we are only above Saudi Arabia on goal difference, but I'm happy that we scored two goals and took our first three points in this qualifying campaign."
The Lions were pressed back by the visitors in the second half and appeared lethargic, conceding possession too easily to a Lebanese team intent on clawing their way back.
"Lebanon pushed forward, and we needed to defend more, while still keeping a few players forward to maintain balance and to counter attack," admitted Avramovic.
"But we were losing possession for no reason, and we were lucky not to concede. Things like this can kill us. We have to work on stopping that."
Looking ahead to the Uzbeks' visit here on June 2, Avramovic is wary.
"Uzbekistan are a very good team that play a more European-style than Asian, and I'm not surprised that they beat Saudi Arabia. Let's just see how we do against them."
Having already played Uzbekistan, Lebanon coach Emile Rustom assessed Singapore's chances.
"Singapore have built a good team with many good players, but we have played Uzbekistan and they are a very, very good team," he warned. "We tried our best against a good Singapore team, but missing four key players was just too much for us. We need all our players back and hope to get a result against Singapore at home." - TODAY
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