In front of 55,000 fans, the Lions gave the fans a victory to savour, clinching the two-legged tie 5-2 on aggregate. Two first half strikes from Indra Sahdan Daud and Agu Casmir killed the game off as a contest, with Indonesia managing only a consolation goal scored by Eli Aiboy in the 76^th minute.

The mammoth task facing the Indonesians at the start of the game became that much more difficult as Singapore struck the early goal, breaking the spirits of the Indonesian players and partisan fans alike.

Five minutes into the game, Indra latched on to a long goal kick aimed at Agu Casmir after a muffed clearance by Aris Indarto. He proceeded to wrong foot Hamka Hamzah before firing in an unstoppable shot into the corner of Indonesian goal.

It was a perfect start which sent the home crowd into raptures, and silenced the Indonesian fans who occupied a corner of the stadium.

Indonesia threatened to equalize immediately, when a minute later, captain, Ponaryo Astaman took the ball past three defenders before shooting at goal. The shot was on target but Lionel Lewis was equal to the task, saving comfortably.

Inside the opening fifteen minutes, Singapore had two other chances to pull away, but Shahril Ishak’s volley off Hasrin Jailani’s cross found the head of Agu instead of goal, and Daniel Bennet’s free kick on the right flew over the bar.

Hasrin Jailani too managed a shot on goal; meeting Indra’s lay off with a low drive which Hendro cradled comfortably.

Chasing the tie, the Indonesians played a more fluent passing game but could not muster a way round the Singapore defence; Aide Iskandar, Baihakki Khaizan, S. Subramani and Daniel Bennett continuing their rich vein of form which has been a cornerstone of the Lions’ success.

The Indonesians passed around neatly up to the final third of the pitch, but failed to thereafter create openings, making it easy for the Lions to clear their lines.

Singapore ‘keeper, Lionel Lewis only had two shots to stop in the first period; the first being a routine save off Eli Aiboy’s attempt from distance, and the second, a spectacular tip-over of Ortizan Salossa’s free kick.

Apart from the two attempts, Indonesia’s only other sniff at goal came after striker, Kurniawan Yulianto did well to pick up a through ball on the right, with two players waiting for a cut-back in the middle. His cross, aimed at strike partner Ilham Jaya Kusuma, was nevertheless cut out by an alert Lionel.

With Indonesia threatening to equalize, the Lions put the tie beyond their reach six minutes before the end of the half.

Itimi Dickson, deployed on the left flank showed the blistering pace he has, beating Syamsul Bachri down the line and thereafter threading a pass into the danger area. His delivery eluded Agu Casmir but fell for Indra Sahdan who was subsequently brought down from behind by Aris Yulianto.

Agu stepped up to the spot and sent Kartiko the wrong way, tucking the ball neatly into the left corner of the net.

The half time score prompted Indonesia’s coach, Peter Withe to say, "We had a mountain to climb. It was Everest in the end."

Ortizan’s in-swinging free kick at the stroke of half time almost gave Indonesia a glimmer of hope going into the break, but Lionel made a spectacular tip over the bar to preserve the Lion’s 2-0 lead.

Needing four goals in the second half just to send the final into extra time, the pressure was on Indonesia to seize the initiative. But the form that saw them managing the same feat against Malaysia failed to materialize.

The Indonesians only really started putting on the pressure after the 70^th minute, and it was a case of too little and much too late.

On 70 minutes, Ilham found himself free at the top of the box after defensive pair, Aide and Baihakki were uncharacteristically caught out. Veteran defender S. Subramani was however on hand to make an important challenge, denying the Tiger Cup top-scorer even an attempt at goal.

Ilham was again stopped four minutes later, this time by the heroics of the Most Valuable Player of the Tiger Cup, Singapore custodian, Lionel. Eli Aiboy had put Ilham through on goal inside the box, but Lionel came out, stood his ground and timed his dive to perfection, smothering the ball as Ilham tried to push past him.

Lionel was finally beaten two minutes later as a moment of magic from Kurniawan saw him turning past Baihakki at the bye-line and putting in a cross from which Eli Aiboy had the simplest of tasks, tapping into a gaping goalmouth.

The Lions’ lead was halved, but Indonesia still had to score three more to level the score on aggregate and it was much too high a wall to scale.

In the end, even the 88^th minute sending off of Lions’ captain Aide Iskandar after chalking up two bookable offences was not enough for Indonesia to overcome Singapore.

And so the fairy tale end to a long campaign has indeed become a reality, astonishing everyone but the Lion’s coach Radojko Avramovic.

"I was not surprised. I told them (the players) we would go all the way to the final," Raddy quipped, adding, "They truly deserve this victory."

The final word on the night however must go to victorious captain, Aide Iskandar.

Iterating what may be on the wish-list of all those who witnessed the historic lifting of the cup on home soil, he said, "The fans enjoyed each and every moment of the match. I hope there will be more to come for the fans."