Geylang International came from behind to beat Warriors FC 2-1 in Friday's Singapore Cup Preliminary Round clash at Jalan Besar Stadium to book their spot in the quarterfinals.
The Warriors were leading at half-time, courtesy of an excellent header by Madhu Mohana, but goals from Sahil Suhaimi and Faritz Hameed within 10 minutes of the restart saw Geylang advance to the last eight.
Next up for the Eagles will be a tough tie against defending champions Albirex Niigata (S). However, they will certainly take heart from the desire they showed and, based on their display in the second half, they are capable of posing the White Swans a few problems.
In what proved to be a keenly contested encounter, Geylang started the brighter of the two teams. They had a penalty appeal turned down after two minutes when Sahil Suhaimi looked to have been brought down by Madhu.
Warriors' keeper Yazid Yasin then had to be alert to beat away a dangerous free kick from Carlos Delgado. But it was the designated visitors who came excruciatingly close to breaking the deadlock in the 20th minute when Marijan Suto met Zulfadli Zainal's inch-perfect cross with a bullet header off the bar.
The Eagles did manage to clear the danger but, from the resultant corner, Warriors took the lead. Hafiz Rahim's excellent delivery was met by an unmarked Madhu with a deft header into the far corner.
Yazid then had to produce another excellent stop to keep his side in front when he tipped over a venomous half-volley by Safirul Sulaiman. Then, right on the stroke of half-time, Geylang were infuriated as they were denied a spot kick once more after what appeared to be another foul on Sahil by Madhu.
Despite a sense of injustice, they kept their nerve and equalised immediately after the restart. Sahil pounced on the rebound to lash home from a yard out after Daniel Bennett had met Delgado's corner with a powerful header off the woodwork.
Eight minutes later, the Eagles went ahead, courtesy of excellent play from Faritz. He broke forward and found Gabriel Quak before racing into the box, meeting the winger's return pass with a clinical finish into the back of the net.
Despite being in front for the first time in the game, Geylang continued to push forward in a bid to kill off the contest.
But, as the match entered the closing stages, they took the sting out of proceedings to be sure of the points.
Warriors did have one final half-chance to grab an equaliser when Ismail Yunos swung a dangerous cross into the box straight onto the head of Hafiz Rahim. But he was only able to glance the ball wide, spurning his team's last opportunity to send the game into extra time.
Understandably delighted with his side's progress to the next round, Geylang coach Hasrin Jailani revealed he was always confident they would be able to turn the tie around.
"There have been a few games now that we've been down and have then come back stronger," he said. "I have to give credit to Warriors because they did very well in the first half but we were much better in the second half.
"At half-time, we told the players they had to give more than 100 per cent and they showed that we are much hungrier and had the desire to win.
"We are very determined to go further in the competition and our next game against Albirex will be another interesting match, although I believe we can match them if are tactically sound."
Warriors' coach Razif Onn admitted his side had to improve following another inconsistent showing.
"We played according to the plan in the first half but there were some lapses in the second half.
"We've talked about how we've been hit by fast counterattacks from the left side and it happened to us again.
"For now, the effort and concentration is just not there and we were unable to recover as a result."
Geylang International: Syazwan Buhari, Faritz Hameed, Daniel Bennett, Yuki Ichikawa, Al-Qaasimy Rahman, Nor Azli Yusoff, Safirul Sulaiman, Shawal Anuar (Stanely Ng 36'), Carlos Delgado (Isa Halim 90'), Gabriel Quak (Branko Cubrilo 81'), Sahil Suhaimi
Warriors FC: Yazid Yasin, Emmeric Ong, Madhu Mohana, Kento Fukuda, Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Hafiz Osman, Poh Yi Feng (Ismail Yunos 62'), Hafiz Nor, Hafiz Rahim (Fazli Jaffar 72'), Jonathan Behe, Marijan Suto