The Lions secured the win through goals from four different scorers in Daniel Bennett, Agu Casmir, Noh Alam Shah and Agu Casmir, but coach Radojko Avramovic was left incensed at the 'joke' refereeing from Thai Rungklay Mongkol.

Mongkol allowed numerous over-the-top challenges from the Myanmarese, including an vicious elbow from forward Yan Paing which left Singapore keeper Lionel Lewis with a bloody mouth, a stamping incident on Alam Shah and a wild kick at S Subramani's ankles which left the veteran defender writhing in pain.

Coach Avramovic was also left stunned by Myanmar's third goal in the dying minutes, as Daniel Bennett appeared to have been fouled in the lead up to Soe Myat Min's goal.

But for all the indifferent eyes Mongkol cast on Myanmar's all too transparent attempts to intimidate the Lions, Avramovic's team held their own and took a valuable victory ahead of the semi-final second leg at the National Stadium on Sunday.

The much-vaunted Singapore backline was tested early on by the industrious play of the Myanmar attackers and Lionel Lewis did well to get his body behind a rasping drive by Myanmar captain Soe Myat Min in the seventh minute.

The front two of Noh Alam Shah and Agu Casmir tried to relieve some of the pressure by running down the Myanmar defenders in their own half.

In an overzealous attempt to win possession, Casmir caught the ankles of Myo Min Tun and was yellow carded with a quarter of an hour gone.

Lively striker Yan Paing had his looping header was tipped over by Lionel in the 19th minute. Another brilliant save by the 22-year old, justifying his evergrowing legion of admirers.

Two minutes later, Daniel Bennett's rasping drive from 30 metres out caught the goalkeeper Aung Aung Oo by surprise. The Lions were 1-0 up.

Myanmar grabbed a deserved equaliser in the 34th minute after Yan Paing was allowed time and space to float in an inviting cross for his captain Myat Min to head past Lionel. Their fans leapt in celebration as they sensed blood.

Two minutes later, the Myanmar fans experienced seventh heaven after a freekick by Min Tun which was not dissimilar to Ronaldinho's effort against England at the 2002 World Cup ghosted past a static Lionel in goal.

Singapore's response was swift and Casmir ensured the two teams ended the half on level terms. The peroxide blond striker stooped low to plant a firm header past Aung Oo after an excellent pass from Dickson on the right flank.

The Lions almost stoled the lead just before the break when Noh Alam Shah's low drive stung the palms of the busy Aung Oo.

The ever industrious midfield pairing of Goh Tat Chuan and Hasrin Jailani was covering every blade of the Cheras Stadium pitch and opened up spaces for the marauding Dickson and Casmir. The latter was cursing the heavens after he somehow skied the ball in front of an open goal.

Shahril Ishak's drive was spilled by Aung Oo into Casmir's path. Fortunately for the goalkeeper, the mistake wasn't punished.

Singapore did retake the lead in the 64th minute. An unselfish lay-off by Casmir found Noh Alam Shah, who sidefooted the ball into the back of the net.

As the Lions tried to slow down the passage of play and protect their one-goal lead, their increasingly frustrated opponents strived to interrupt long spells of possession with less than fair means.

The referee struggled to control the rash challenges and reactions to those rash challenges, which only increased the whistling of the less than impressed supporters.

Kyan Khing Win in particular was very lucky to have remained on the pitch after a stomping all over Noh Alam Shah as he tried to shield the ball while waiting for a free team mate.

From the resulting freekick, Shahril Ishak's cleverly disguised effort flew past a less than impressed Aung Oo into the bottom corner.

The torrential rain of verbal abuse and bottles from a section of the Myanmar supporters did little to dissuade the wild celebrations from the 1998 champions.

The five minutes of added time felt like five minutes too long for the tiring Singapore defence. A lapse in concentration by substitute Noh Rahman allowed Myat Min to ghost in and steered the ball past Lionel.

The soft goal conceded certainly had Lions coach Raddy Avramovic fuming, but that anger could have been extinguished a minute later had substitute Khairul Amri scored when presented with a golden chance.

The 19-year-old found himself with only Aung Oo to beat after a Casmir-dummy fooled the entire Myanmar defence, but his effort was hit straight at the onrushing custodian Aung Oo.