Two blows, one just before half-time and one soon after, put paid to the Warriors' hopes of gaining at least a point against Suwon Bluewings in the AFC Champions League on Wednesday (10 March).

The Warriors defended stoutly for almost the entire first half, but saw Suwon take the lead through a freekick by Brazilian defender Juninho just before half-time.

The goal dented the Warriors' spirits as the plan was to go into the dressing room at 0-0, before hitting Suwon after the weather wears them down.

Early on in the second half, the Warriors were dealt with another setback as defender Ivan Lovric was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for what seemed a soft foul.

Down to 10 men, the Warriors still gave a good account of themselves, creating several chances but failed to score. 

Another Brazilian from Suwon, Jose Mota, then put the game out of the Warriors' reach with a superb left-foot curler into the top corner in the 72nd minute for a 2-0 victory, propelling them to the top of the group.

The scoreline may be the same as last year, but the Warriors can take heart from this loss. The best testimony of the Warriors' improvement came from Suwon coach Cha Bum Kun, who famously left out his key players like goalkeeper Lee Woon Jae and defender Li Weifeng in last year's corresponding fixture.

The Korean legend admitted after the game that it was tough for them this time. First of all, they had to get used to the hot and humid climate after flying in from freezing conditions back in Korea just two nights before the game. Then, there was also the matter of getting used to the artificial turf at Jalan Besar.

He said: “The climate was very hot compared to what we have in Korea. The opponents showed great improvement from last year. They are more organised with players getting into dangerous positions.

“We saw in their game against Henan that they have a good defence and a good counter attack and I made sure our players pressed them in the midfield and took advantage of our set-pieces."

Warriors coach Richard Bok was left to rue what it could have been had the score been 0-0 at half-time.

He said: “I was quite happy with our performance today. We defended well until they scored that very good goal in injury time of the first-half. If we had gone into the break 0-0, it could have been a different game.

“Even when we were down to 10 men in the second-half we did well.

“Suwon's passing and movement are of a different class. Their technical ability and tactical ability are at a very high level.”

On Lovric's sending off, Richard said: "It was a very soft yellow especially for the second one and we were really stretched against a much superior team”

Team: Shahril Jantan (GK, C), Hafiz Osman, Ivan Lovric, Daniel Bennett, Razaleigh Khalik, Ahmad Latiff, Niklas Sandberg, Rhysh Roshan Rai, Taisuke Akiyoshi, Indra Sahdan (Mustaqim Manzur 68th), Federico Martinez

Referee: Alzarouni Mohamed Abedulkarim Mohamed Ismail (UAE)

Crowd: 2,674