“I thought there was a really good and strong response, especially early in the game as we took control and scored twice,” said Muscat

“In the second half, we have to credit the opponents for not giving up and they kept pushing us, however, we were comfortable throughout without overpowering them.”

Port took the lead after only two minutes through Li Ang with Wu Lei doubling their advantage before half-time. Mikael Doka pulled one back for the Mariners just after the hour mark but Matias Varga made it 3-1 in the 86th minute to seal the points with the visitors then netting a consolation through Nicholas Duarte.

The return to action of experienced forward Wu Lei, who missed China PR’s recent AFC Asian Qualifiers™ - Road to 26 matches, also gave Muscat plenty of encouragement.

“We have to monitor his (Wu Lei) condition. His situation is not one where it can go completely, we have to manage him because he’s played a lot of football but we’re happy he’s back in the team to contribute to what we want to achieve,” Muscat explained.

Despite a third consecutive defeat, head coach Mark Jackson remained pleased to see how his Mariners players are coping with the demands against continental’s finest.

“Obviously the result didn’t go our way today but as a coach, I’m really proud of the performance and how we approached the game against a really top team,” said Jackson.

“We were fairly happy with the first half although disappointed with the goal we conceded, we weren’t totally out of it.  We knew we could score, so by putting Mikael Doka on the left and Bailey Brandtman on the right gave us that opportunity to come inside and shoot and that’s how we got the goals.”