SINGAPORE – The Lions got their Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup qualifying campaign off to a good start as a battling and disciplined defensive showing earned them a credible 0-0 away draw with higher-ranked Bahrain at the Bahrain National Stadium in Riffa this morning (Mar 29).

Having lost their last seven encounters against Bahrain, V.Sundramoorthy’s men were understandably cautious in their approach to the game as they sat deep right from the get-go with the aim of hitting the hosts on the counter.

It proved an effective strategy, as Bahrain were unable to fashion any sort of chance in the early stages of the game despite boasting the majority of the possession.

Instead, the Lions were the first to come close to breaking the deadlock with midfielder Safuwan Baharudin firing a snapshot straight at the Bahraini goalkeeper after being found in the box from a flick-on.

Two minutes later, it was Khairul Nizam’s turn to threaten the Bahrain goal as he got onto the end of a cutback from Shakir Hamzah, but the Home United striker - who had repleced sibling Khairul Amri in the 10th minute - side-footed his effort narrowly wide from six yards out.

Following the half-time break however, Bahrain began to commit more men forward as they began to stamp their authority on the game.

And it nearly paid dividends midway through the second-half when Singapore custodian Hassan Sunny palmed away Ahmed Ali’s shot right into the path of substitute Ismael Abdulatif, who somehow contrived to blaze the rebound over the bar from close range despite having an open goal to aim at.

With the Singapore players beginning to tire out from having incessantly pressed their opponents for the majority of the game, space began to open up in their defence, and Bahrain very nearly capitalised with a goal in the 78th minute.

However, the Bahrainis were denied by Lions full-back Faritz Hameed, who got back in the nick of time to hack their goal-bound effort off the line.

Despite increasing the efforts in attack in the closing stages of the game, Bahrain were unable to further threaten Singapore’s goal as the Lions held firm to secure a valuable point in their quest to qualify Singapore for their first Asian Cup in 33 years.

Singapore’s next Asian Cup qualifying match will see them play Chinese Taipei at home on June 13.

Meanwhile, Turkmenistan, who beat Taiwan 3-1 last Sunday (March 26), will take on Bahrain on the same day.

Singapore’s line-up:

Hassan Sunny (GK), Faritz Hameed, Irfan Fandi, Daniel Bennett, Shakir Hamzah, Juma’at Jantan, Izzdin Shafiq, Hariss Harun (C), Yasir Hanapi, Safuwan Baharudin (M. Anumanthan, 70th), Khairul Amri (Khairul Nizam, 10th; Fahrudin Mustafic, 84th)