Clinical finishing was the main difference as Oman took the chances that came their way and narrowly edged out hosts Singapore 2-0 at the Jalan Besar Stadium tonight.

Despite lying at the bottom of Group 3 of the Asian Qualifying Zone with no points to show, the Lions woke up from their slumber in the first half, took the game to their more illustrious opponents, and perhaps with better finishing, Singapore would have wrecked Oman’s own qualifying hopes by holding them to at least a draw.

As Omani Coach Milan Macala admitted at the post-match press conference, "Singapore’s game was better in the second half and I am just happy that this match is over."

Oman arrived in Singapore on the back of an impressive performance in the recently concluded Asian Cup and Macala’s young team certainly began the game where they left off in the 7-0 drubbing of Singapore nearly three months ago.

The former Czech Republic honcho evidently pulled no punches tonight by fielding the same 11 players who started their Asian Cup campaign and true enough, with only three minutes gone, Hassan Yousuf caught the Lions defence flat-footed by surging to the bye-line before cutting back a cross for Yousuf Sha’ban to sidefoot past a bewildered Hassan Sunny to give an early lead to Oman.

The early goal dictated the tone for Oman in the remaining 87 minutes of the game by allowing them to play their fluid passing game and let their opponents do all the chasing.

In contrast, with the strike pairing of Indra Sahdan and Noh Alam Shah struggling to show the telepathic understanding they displayed during the 2-0 win over Indonesia last Saturday, the direct style of play employed by Singapore was never going to seriously trouble Oman’s backline.

Singapore’s malaise of giving away possession cheaply, particularly inside their own half, also came back to haunt them as Oman’s Fawzi Bashir nearly capitalized on one such mistake in the 28^th minute but luckily for the home team, the playmaker shot wide with only Hassan to beat.

Three minutes later, the back-pedaling Hassan kept his team in the game with a breath-taking one-handed save as he prevented Amad Ali’s looping header from dropping into the net.

Badar Mubarak, four-goal hero against Singapore in Muscat, was then twice denied – first by Hassan in a one-on-one situation and then the woodwork kept out his wicked free-kick shortly after the half-time interval.

It took Singapore 54 minutes before they could register their first shot on target from Indra, whose brilliant volley from Shahril Ishak’s corner forced Ali Abdullah Harib to tip his effort over.

Roared on by their boisterous supporters, Singapore rose on the crest of their attacking wave and on the 71^st minute mark, substitute Masrezwan Masturi should had brought closure to his team’s best move of the game when Indra slipped a through ball into his path but the Woodlands forward contrived to put his shot horribly over the bar.

Undaunted, Singapore continued to enjoy a decent portion of possession but everytime when they came to the final third of the field, that decisive killer pass was always so sorely missing.

Oman showed how it was done nine minutes from time through Amad Ali, who had clearly retained his goal-scoring prowess from the Asian Cup by coolly chesting yet another Hassan Yousuf cross before slotting past Hassan for 2-0.

Shahril could have pulled a goal back in stoppage time after Indra had cut back a pass to him after dispossessing Omani keeper Ali Abdullah Harib but even if his shot wasn’t blocked, it was too little too late for Singapore.

Lions trainer Radojko Avramovic commented after the match, "I am satisfied with my team’s performance, keeping in mind that Oman is an excellent team that had trained in camp for 23 days.

"What we lacked today was confidence because we created at least two clear chances to score but we didn’t do it. Now that we have no chance of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, I hope to see progress from my players in our remaining games while I select the squad in preparation for the Tiger Cup in December."