“Even though we weren’t at our best physically, the team showed incredible teamwork and a fighting spirit to secure this crucial win,” said Chang. “I’m grateful to the players and the fans who supported us every step of the way.”

Chang also reserved special praise for his veteran stars, whose grit set the tone for the performance.

“Wang Shuang took a knock to the waist but wanted to keep playing, but I had to bring her off. Yao Wei wasn’t fully fit but completed the full match and Ma Jun, despite a knee injury, insisted on playing both games.

“Their determination is an example the younger players should follow.”

The win gave Wuhan Jiangda a one-point lead at the summit with East Bengal and Bam Khatoon of Islamic Republic of Iran, who edged Nasaf 1-0, tied on three points.

In the other match, Bam Khatoon produced a battling performance to register an important win as they rebounded from their opening 3-1 defeat to East Bengal.

Sara Didar’s early goal proved to be the difference with head coach Marziyeh Jafari pleased to see a resilient performance from her team, who had to be on the defence for large parts of the match but excelled in fending off Nasaf.

“It was a pretty challenging and difficult match for us,” said Jafari. “Since we lost in the previous match, we didn’t have anything to lose so we gave it our all.

“We had many injured players and even during the match, we had to make two substitutions due to injuries. We had analysed Nasaf and we knew what their strengths and weaknesses are.

“I’m very happy with my players that we could control the match and win the game.”