“It was a difficult and tough game,” said Poyatos. “The first half was really difficult for us, especially in dealing with the humidity.

“But slowly we started to control the game and we were always ready for the transition. We changed a little for the second half and we managed to get the goals, so we are really happy with the win.”

The change Poyatos highlighted was the introduction of Shuto Abe for Tokuma Suzuki at the start of the second half with the midfielder repaying his coach’s faith with the opener in the 64th minute before Ryotaro Meshino confirmed the win in stoppage time.

Conversely, Ratchaburi who had fought valiantly to keep Gamba in check for 45 minutes, were unable to keep their intensity going in the second half with head coach Worrawoot Srimaka lamenting injuries to Jeremy Corinus and Ikhsan Fandi.

“It's a big problem that we lost 2-3 key players and then we lost another few more in the game,” said Worrawoot. “We know we were not the favourites in this game.

“To maintain even 15 minutes of matching up to Gamba is difficult but we managed more than that so I cannot fault the players. We will continue to fight in the remaining games.”

Gamba will take on Nam Dinh next on October 22 while Ratchaburi will need a win against Eastern if they are to keep their knockout stage hopes alive.