Jozef Kaplan proved to be Geylang International's talisman on Thursday night as he scored late to inspire his side to a 1-0 victory over Filipino outfit Global FC in the first leg of the RHB Singapore Cup quarterfinal tie at Jalan Besar Stadium.
The game looked to be heading for a goalless draw before the 29-year-old's timely intervention three minutes from time.
Geylang was determined to get on the front foot early on as they created two excellent opportunities in the opening 15 minutes, but was unable to convert both.
First Hafiz Nor squared a teasing ball into the box which Shawal Anuar slammed wide with just Global keeper Roland Dely Sadia to beat.
Then it was Kento Fukuda's turn to miss a glaring header into an open goal, after Shawal's close-range effort came off the bar.
It took some time for Global to settle into the game as captain Misagh Bahadoran skipped past three Geylang defenders just before the half-hour mark, only to see his resulting shot go wide off the right-hand post.
After a poor first half display, it was the visitors who returned for the second half looking reinvigorated as they created four chances in the short span of seven mibutes. Masaki Yanagawa saw his shot hacked off the line by a Geylang defender before Mark Hartmann's rasping 30-yard drive flew just over Geylang keeper Yazid Yasin's goal.
The latter had another close-range effort deflected just wide by Hafiz Osman, before Bahadoran's acrobatic volley brought out a flying save from an alert Yazid.
The 36-year-old custodian had to be at his best again on 62 minutes to push Matthew Hartmann's 20-yard piledriver around the post.
Surviving those scares, Geylang surged forward in the final 20 minutes looking for the winner. Tatsuro Inui saw his shot from just outside the box unluckily coming off the base of the post and that paved the way for Kaplan's late show.
With the Global defence backing off, the Geylang skipper needed no invitation when he lashed an unerring 20-yard screamer past Sedia into the bottom right corner.
That goal was enough for the Eagles to seal the win and take a slight advantage into Sunday's second leg at Bedok Stadium.
Victorious coach Jorg Steinebrunner was pleased that his side's soak-and-strike strategy paid off in the end.
"We saw them (Global) against Hougang United in the last round and they're a good footballing side," he said. "That's why we were happy to give them the ball and hit them on the break.
"In the first 15 minutes of the second half, we gave them too much space and they had a series of corners.
Then we changed our formation and looked better in the final 20 minutes. From there, we scored and that's the story of the night."
Meanwhile Global counterpart Leigh Manson was left disappointed with his side's profligacy in the second half.
"I thought we were really dominant coming into the second half," he said. "We started to move the ball quicker and really opened them up, but we did not score. Then the players got a bit tired and eventually we were hit by a sucker punch."
Global FC: Roland Dely Sadia (GK), Jerry Barbaso, Dennis Villanueva, Masaki Yanagawa, Norio Suzuki, Misagh Bahadoran (C), Yu Hoshide, Jason de Jong, Daisuke Sato (Mario Clarino 75') Matthew Hartmann, Mark Hartmann (Paulo Salenga 84')
Geylang International: Yazid Yasin (GK), Khairulnizam Jumahat, Hafiz Osman, Kento Fukuda, Anaz Hadee, Nor Azli Yusoff, Mustaqim Manzur (Shah Hirul 67'), Hafiz Nor, Tatsuro Inui (Bruno Castanheira 86'), Shawal Anuar, Jozef Kaplan (C)