It was the home side who showed the early initiative when Bergson set Juan Muniz free in the centre, only for the Spanish midfielder to scuff the effort from the top of the area.

Buriram almost found a way through in the 10th minute after Lucas Crispim sent a neat through pass to Dion Cools, whose run inside the box was cut by Murilo, with the midfielder shown a straight red.

Johor Darul Ta’zim continued to press and Bergson came close to putting the Malaysian side in front just before the half-hour mark when he received the ball from Arif Aiman at the top of the box, but planted his volleyed attempt straight into the path of Buriram keeper Etheridge.

Despite having the advantage of an extra man, Buriram failed to capitalise on their chances with Curtis Good, Kenneth Dougall and Cools all failing to find the target from a set-piece situation in the 38th minute. 

Buriram then went down to 10 men in the 45th minute after captain Theerathon Bunmathan picked up a second yellow card for his foul on Arif as the score remained 0-0 going into the break.

The Thai League 1 side threatened in the 63rd minute after a neat build-up between Jefferson Tabinas and Guilherme Bissoli allowed space for the Brazilian to launch a curling shot, forcing Andoni Zubiaurre into a save.

JDT responded a minute later with Bergson picking up a clearance from inside the box before launching a stinging shot intended for the bottom left corner, but Etheridge produced a stunning save.

Desperate for the three points, JDT brought in Jorge Obregon and Heberty in the 75th minute and the Brazilian almost made an impact 10 minutes later, forcing Etheridge into tipping away his powerful shot from distance.

JDT suffered another blow in stoppage time, going down to nine men after Park Jun-heong received a straight red card for his tackle on Bissoli.