It was a match the Warriors were widely expected to lose.
They had just come off from a three-game losing streak. To make matters worse, they were missing John Wilkinson (suspended) and Therdsak Chaiman (injury).
But thanks to the heroics of custodian Shahril Jantan and Ahmad Latiff, they drew 1-1 with star-studded Shanghai Shenhua, last year's runners-up of the Chinese Super League.
A sweetly-struck Ahmad Latiff volley against the run of play was almost enough to pull off a memorable upset.
The unlikely goal came in the 29th minute when a throw-in was flicked on by Aleksandar Duric to Park Tae Won, whose advance was checked by Yao Lijun.
The ball then fell straight to an unmarked Lariff, who gave Shanghai goalkeeper Qiu Shengjiong no chance with his thunderbolt from just outside the box.
The Warriors backline then took everything that Shanghai could throw at them. Shahril, in particular, had an outstanding game as he thwarted the visitors time and again.
In the 34th minute, he stopped Belarussian winger Viachaslav Hleb's attempt at his near post. In the opening minutes of the second half, when Shanghai were firing all cylinders, Shahril also did well, tipping a Hernan Barcos shot into the bar.
To be sure, the Warriors should also thank their lucky stars that Chen Tao's follow-up effort was ruled offside and later on, Shanghai's Australian international Mark Milligan saw his attempt hitting the post after Shahril had smothered it.
Hernan Barcos finally equalised for the visitors in the 90th minute from a narrow angle, which set up a tense finale in the four minute of time added on.
The Warriors sent on Therdsak, whose first foray saw him earning the Warriors a freekick just outside the box in the dying seconds.
Shanghai, who had lost to a Therdsak-inspired BEC Tero Sasana in the 2003 competition, knew only too well what the No 8 could do. Unfortunately, his attempt sailed just over the bar as the referee blew for full-time.
SAFFC: Shahril Jantan (GK), Razaleigh Khalik, Daniel Bennett, Kenji Arai, Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Syed Karim (Hafiz Osman 77th), Masahiro Fukasawa, Park Tae Won (Therdsak Chaiman 90th+2), Mustaqim Manzur (Shaiful Esah 76th), Ahmad Latiff, Aleksandar Duric (C)
Subs not used: Toh Guo'an (GK), Guntur Djafril, Dharham Aziz, Abdil Qaiyyim Abdul Mutalib
Referee: Al Marzouqi Fareed Ali Mohamed Hassan (UAE)
Crowd: 2,838
Other result in Group G:
Kashima Antlers 3 Suwon Bluewings 0
ACL Group G | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| Kashima Antlers | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 12 |
| Suwon Bluewings | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 9 |
| Shanghai Shenhua | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 7 |
| SAFFC | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 16 | -13 | 1 |
Remaining games:
19 May 2009
Suwon v SAFFC (Suwon World Cup Stadium, 7.30pm)
Shanghai Shenhua v Kashima (Hongkou Stadium, 8pm)
Pictures for the match: SAFFC
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