“Of course we are happy with the win but now we also have to start thinking about Sunday’s game (v Kowloon City in the Hong Kong Premier League),” said Lee.

“It’s too early to start thinking about qualification because this is only the first game, there are five more to go and we still need to go to Australia, so let’s take it one game at a time.

“The players played well to get the win but we were also lucky in the sense that we played the whole second half against 10 men but the result will show that Hong Kong football is also capable of matching up to teams from A-League.”

Disappointment was etched on the face of Mile Sterjovski who felt his Macarthur side were never really at the races in the game after conceding a third minute goal to Gabriel Cividini.

A red card to Callum Talbot late in the first half made it a more difficult task with Tai Po adding a second through Michale Renner before a James Temelkovski own goal reduced the deficit.

“It was a difficult match, congratulations to Tai Po,” said Sterjovski. “Right from the beginning, we were a little bit off. Credit to them, they did well.

“They just looked hungrier, started well and we were just on the back foot from the beginning. I think we came back into the game and in the second half we put more pressure on, even with a player down but it was too little too late.”

Tai Po next face Ha Noi while Macarthur will look to bounce back at home against Beijing, with both matches on October 2.