Noh Alam Shah scored with 12 minutes to go as Singapore clocked a hard-fought 1-0 win over Myanmar in the Tiger International Football Festival.

The substitute’s headed goal from Shahril Ishak’s corner sparked delighted celebrations amongst the Lions - a reflection of the skintight nature of the match and its hard-earned conclusion.

Control of the game constantly donged back and forth between the two teams throughout the 90 minutes, and the result lay in Singapore’s marginally superior use of the ball and quality in front of goal.

On this evidence though, Myanmar are well capable of springing the surprise that coach Ivan Kolev has promised on his Tiger Cup Group B opponents Thailand and Malaysia. Striker Yan Paing had Singapore skipper Aide Iskandar on his toes throughout the match and the visitors manifested pace and enthusiasm all over the pitch.

The Lions have traditionally struggled with teams who have gone at them, pressed and hassled them for 90 minutes, and indeed Myanmar have been their nemesis in the last two South East Asian Games.

Radojko Avramovic’s young team are made of more resilient stuff though and they coped well with Myanmar this time around despite some less than certain defending in the first half. The visitors were restricted largely though to long range attempts, which keeper Hassan Sunny handled with his customary ease.

Singapore registered the first real attempt at goal, Daniel Bennett striking Myanmar keeper Aung Aung Oo’s post with a stiff freekick.

Striker Agu Casmir, making his return to competitive action having been out since September, then showed his match rust as he headed Shahril’s freekick over the bar from inside the six yard box.

After that though, the Lions worryingly began to cede midfield control to the Myanmar duo of captain Aung Kyaw Moe and Lai Ceu Luai. That period brought the visitors’ first shot on target in the 21^st minute, nippy winger Mar La’s shot from just inside the area bringing out a diving save from Hassan.

Singapore’s defence, unaided by a midfield asserting itself only in parts, coming under pressure and their cause was not helped in the 28^th minute when Itimi Dickson was easily robbed of possession by right-back Khin Mamung Tun, who saw his strike from 30m out blocked by Hassan.

With his front duo of Casmir and Indra Sahdan largely anonymous in the first half, Avramovic reshuffled his pack for the second with the introduction of Alam Shah and young forward Khairul Amri.

The thrust of Singapore’s forward efforts was to come from the duo, particularly from Tampines Rovers striker Alam Shah. The 24-year-old was both an aerial outlet for long passes and proved good foil for Indra with his constantly movement on and off the ball.

And it was Alam Shah, battling to testify his fitness for the Tiger Cup, who would prove to be Singapore’s cutting edge in the 78^th minute as he came up tops in a crowded box to nod Shahril’s corner past Aung.

Minutes later he was at the end of a flowing move involving Indra and Amri, turning Amri’s low cross driven from the left towards goal. But the effort was not cleanly struck and bounced off the post despite leaving keeper Aung flatfooted.

Alam Shah’s earlier effort was to be the decider though, a fact that left coach Avramovic musing on his side’s need for more clinical finishing. "Both teams worked very hard. But we made it difficult for ourselves because we did not convert most of the clear chances that we had in the first half," said the Serbo-Montenegrin.

"In international games, you usually get only a handful of those chances and you have to make them count." The Lions will get another chance to cut their teeth when they take on Hong Kong on Tuesday in their last friendly before the Tiger Cup.