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Emotions ran wild at a highly charged Jalan Besar Stadium as the LionsXII exited Malaysian football in style with a 2-0 victory over reigning Malaysia Cup champions Pahang in their quarterfinal second leg on Saturday night.
But it wasn't enough to stop the Singapore side being eliminated 4-3 on aggregate as Pahang advanced to the semifinals after a 4-1 victory in last Tuesday's first leg in Kuantan.
Knowing that it could be their final game in Malaysian football, LionsXII put on a brilliant attacking performance with goals from Christopher Van Huizen and Faris Ramli.
Fandi Ahmad's team turned on the afterburner from the get go, as they poured forward with confidence, They reaped the reward in the 12th minute when Van Huizen opened the scoring.
The flying winger, who was celebrating his birthday, expertly controlled the ball before rifling a screamer beyond the reach of goalkeeper Khairul Azhan.
An improbable task become a possibility seven minutes later when Faris scored the second goal for the home side in what was another brilliant move down the right.
Good combination play between Van Huizen and Nazrul Nazari saw the latter whip in a pinpoint cross that was bundled over the line by Faris, despite close attention from Pahang right-back Matthew Davies.
Pahang's fullbacks were clearly not on their game as Faris was allowed another good run, which resulted in him cutting in from the left before pulling the trigger, only to see his shot cannon off the crossbar.
Zainal Abidin had enough of his team's insipid performance and brought on trump card R. Gopinathan for the second half.
It was still the home team who dominated proceedings and Safuwan Baharudin was the first to have a sniff at goal but blazed his effort wide on 47 minutes.
The Pahang attack finally showed signs of life in the 56th minute when Dickson Nwakaeme beat two players, only to see his shot blocked by an alert LionsXII defence.
LionsXII fans heaved a sigh of relief two minutes later when Zesh Rehman put the ball into the back of the net, but the linesman's flag was already up for offside.
Pahang began to be in the ascendancy as Dickson's ability to hold the ball and play the likes of Azamuddin Akil and Matias Conti gave LionsXII all sorts of problems.
It was Shahdan Sulaiman's turn to take a potshot at goal but Azhan got down in time to take the sting out of his shot.
The home bench was up in arms when referee Zamzaidi Katimin gave only an 82nd minute free-kick for Matthew Davies' foul on substitute Sahil Suhaimi when the incident seemed to had happened inside the penalty box.
R. Gopinathan almost killed off the tie with two minutes left on the clock after Dickson put him through only to see Izwan Mahbud pull off a superb reflex save to deny the Malaysian international.
With the visitors dropping like flies in the dying seconds, LionsXII tried in vain to raise the tempo but without any further breakthrough as Pahang squeaked through to the semifinals.
LionsXII: Izwan Mahbud (GK), Hafiz Sujad, Shakir Hamzah, Madhu Mohana (Khairul Nizam 68') , Zulfahmi Arifin, Nazrul Nazari, Izzdin Shafiq, Shahdan Sulaiman, Christopher Van Huizen (Gabriel Quak 59'), Faris Ramli (Sahil Suhaimi 78'), Safuwan Baharudin
Pahang: Khairul Azhan (GK), Saifulnizam Miswan, Damion Stewart, Abdul Aziz Ismail (Shahrizan Salleh 87'), Matthew Davies, Zesh Rehman, Rizua Shafiqi (D. Saarvindran 82'), R. Surendran (R. Gopinathan 45'), Azamuddin Akil, Matias Conti, Dickson Nwakaeme