Having beaten fellow Hong Kong Premier League side Kitchee SC in Group I’s Matchday One, the hosts were on top in the opening spell and Brazilian-born striker Sandro forced Hang Yuan goalkeeper Huang Chiu-Lin into action with a firm header on 11 minutes.
Benchy Estama responded at the other end with a superb free-kick on the quarter-hour mark that needed a combination of Tsang Man Fai and the crossbar to deny the Haitian.
But just two minutes later, the hosts took the lead, full-back Chak Ting Fung heading home Wong Wai’s cross from the right.
The visitors were back on level terms after half an hour’s play following a second stunning free-kick from Estama, but parity lasted just a single minute as Igor Sartori went up the other end to drive an angled effort past Huang to make it 2-1 Tai Po at the break.
Brazilian Sartori, who had already shown off some silky skills down the left shortly after the restart, then doubled Tai Po’s advantage and his tally for the night after rounding Huang on 54 minutes.
Substitute Chen Ching-Hsuan did remind Tai Po of the danger the visitors still posed when he fired off a low shot against the post on the hour mark.
And the warning was not heeded as just five minutes later South Korean Ju Ik-seong reduced the deficit with a composed finish from Estama’s through ball to make it 3-2.
Tai Po could have seen out the tie with some breathing room to spare when Joao Emir was brought down in the area inside the final 10 minutes, but Sartori passed up the chance for his hat-trick with a poor penalty.
Sartori did atone for the miss in the final minute of the tie, though, as it was from his free-kick on the left that Chan Siu Kwan stabbed home to ensure Tai Po would take all three points.
The Hong Kong club will next face fellow two-game winners 4.25 SC of DPR Korea on April 30, with Hang Yuan taking on Kitchee, also yet to register a point, a day later.
