Tampines were the first to threaten with Seia Kunori, Shuya Yamashita and Kyoga Nakamura producing attempts in the early minutes as the game showed signs of mirroring the thrilling 3-3 draw from the reverse fixture two weeks ago.

Nam Dinh, however, gradually started to show their attacking intent and would have gone ahead in the 19th minute if not for Yamashita clearing on the line to deny Ly Cong Hoang Anh with Lucas Silva’s follow-up stopped by Syazwan Buhari.

Just like it was at the Jalan Besar Stadium, it was Tampines who opened the scoring when Amirul Adli rose highest to power home a header from a Joel Chew corner kick delivery in the 38th minute.

The home side tried to pull level before the break, working the ball from the right to left in the 45th minute to set up Lucas Silva with a shooting chance but the Brazilian opted to find Hendrio instead, allowing Tampines the chance to clear the ball.

Tampines began the second half with a bang as they doubled their lead within three minutes of the restart when Shah Shahiran picked out Kunori at the far post and the Japanese forward somehow managed to squeeze his shot in from an acute angle.

Nam Dinh refused to back down and forced their way back into the game in the 57th minute when Ly Cong’s cross to edge of the box was chested down by Caio Cesar before the midfielder smashed his shot past Buhari to breathe confidence back into the Vietnamese side.

With 10 minutes on the clock, Nam Dinh found the equaliser their persistent pressure deserved when Nguyen Van Vi made a brilliant run on the left before crossing for Joseph Mpande to tap in.

The comeback was completed in the sixth minute of added time when defender Lucas Araujo smashed home from the centre of the box to claim all three points for Nam Dinh.