SINGAPORE – Singapore ended their long winless streak against Thailand, grabbing a controversial 2-1 win in the first leg of the Asean Football Championship final at the National Stadium on Wednesday.

The Lions had not beaten the Thais in a competitive match since 1977 but a second half penalty by Mustafic Fahruddin settled the match in favour of the home side.

The penalty was awarded after Noh Alam Shah went down in the Thai box under challenge from Niweat Siriwong and sparked a furious reaction from the Thais who walked off the pitch for 15 minutes before finally being convinced to return.

Alam Shah had earlier opened the scoring for Singapore with his 10th goal of the tournament in the 17th minute but the Thais got back on level terms five minutes after the break when a superb through ball released Pipat Thonkanya, who rounded goalkeeper Lionel Lewis to equalise.

The return leg will be played at the Supachalasai Stadium in Bangkok on Sunday.

As expected, Thai skipper Kiatisuk Senamuang was ruled out by a knee injury and replaced by Pipat, while Singapore made three changes with captain Aide Iskandar returning from suspension to replace Baihakki Khaizan in central defence, while Mohamed Noh Rahman and Fazrul Nawaz came in for Isa Halim and the injured Hafiz Osman.

A capacity crowd of 55,000 was present for what was likely to be the final competitive match at the National Stadium and the majority were on their feet after 17 minutes when the home side took the lead.

The ball was played to Indra Sahdan, whose effort was blocked by Niweat Siriwong and deflected outside the box to Mustafic Fahruddin.

Fahruddin’s shot was poor but fell nicely at the feet of Alam Shah, who controlled the ball with his back to goal before turning and firing a right-footed shot into the lower left hand corner of the Thai goal.

Apart from that one bright moment, the opening half was a frantic and physical affair which saw four players booked by Malaysian referee C.Ravichandran – Nirut Surasiang for Thailand and Fazrul Nawaz, Fahruddin and Muhammad Ridhuan for Singapore.

Two minutes into the second half, Singapore had an opportunity to extend their lead when the ball was lofted into the box to Fazrul, who was denied a shot by a brave challenge by Thai goalkeeper Kittisak Rawangpa.

On 50 minutes, the Thais were back on level terms with virtually their first opening of the game after a superb through ball by Nirut caught the Singapore defence square, releasing Pipat.

The Thai forward coolly rounded goalkeeper Lionel Lewis before slotting the ball into the unguarded net for the equaliser.

Singapore had a good shout for a penalty in the 56th minute when Khairul Amri was pulled back by Jetsada Jitsawad in the Thai box but referee Ravichandran was not interested.

Buoyed by their equaliser, the Thais proved far more effective in attack and Nirut went close with a long-range drive from 30 metres that was nervously pushed out for a corner by Lewis.

The Thais stepped up the pressure and had chances to take the lead with Pipat scooping the ball over the crossbar following a corner in the 75th minute and Datsakorn firing in another long range effort two minutes later which was kept out by a flying save by Lewis.

The match was plunged into controversy in the 82nd minute when referee C.Ravichandran pointed to the spot after Alam Shah tumbled in the box under challenge from Niweat.

The Thais protested by walking off the pitch in protest and refused to return for 15 minutes.

Thai team manager Thavatchai Sajakul spent several minutes discussing the matter with match commissioner Mohamad Ameen before finally convincing his team to return.

When the action finally resumed, Fahruddin kept his cool to fire the ball into the top right corner of the Thai net.

With seconds remaining, Singapore’s Shi Jia Yi crossed into the box but Amri failed to get his header on target. Thursday, February 01, 2007 at 12:35 AM