Sailors made an impressive start, taking a 2-0 lead after 17 minutes as Port made a hash of clearing their lines when defending long balls pumped forward by the Singaporean side.

Suphanan Bureerat missed a header that allowed Christopher Van Huizen to find Shawal Anuar for the finish in the 14th minute before Noboru Shimura miscued his touch that saw the ball fall  into the path of Shawal, who slipped his shot past the advancing Worawut Srisupa three minutes later.

Port tried to claw their way back into the game and saw a lot of the ball but were not able to force Sailors custodian Izwan Mahbud into action.

In fact, they could have gone further behind after another defensive error, this time from Isaac Honny which presented a chance for Song Ui-young, who sent his shot high over the bar.

It was a much better Port at the start of the second half as they started asking questions of the Sailors’ defence with a header from Lonsana Doumbouya that clipped the crossbar and a Felipe Amorim diving header that went just wide.

Sailors did not heed the warning signs and were punished in the 55th minute when Kevin Deeromram’s corner kick was glanced home by Shimura as Port were rewarded for their improved showing.

Against the run of play, Sailors restored their two-goal lead 10 minutes later after Maxime Lestienne found Shawal in the box, who laid the ball back to Song to strike, deflecting off a defender and looping over Worawut to end Port’s hopes of a fightback.

Both teams return to action next week with Sailors hosting Persib Bandung of Indonesia while Port travel to face China PR’s Zhejiang FC, both matches to be played on  November 7.