The Lion City Sailors kept themselves in the hunt for a place in the knockout stages of the ASEAN Club Championship (ACC) Shopee Cup with a 3-2 win over Myanmar’s Shan United at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Wednesday (17 December).

Lennart Thy struck twice, while Maxime Lestienne chipped in with a goal and an assist as the Sailors steered their Shopee Cup campaign back on course.

The match also marked the Sailors’ return to the newly re-turfed natural grass pitch at the Jalan Besar Stadium in their first home outing of this season’s competition.

“It was not the most beautiful game. If I think back on the last two and a half years, in terms of quality, this was maybe the least nice game to watch. And that’s not only on the two teams; it was also due to a lot of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) moments. All the ingredients were there for a very ugly match, but I’m just happy that we won,” said Head Coach Aleksandar Ranković at the post-match press conference.

Truth be told, despite the five goals on the night, the match was punctuated by missed chances, injuries and repeated VAR stoppages that disrupted the rhythm throughout.

The visitors had the first sight of goal in the sixth minute with Ye Yint Aung firing over, before Lennart headed wide from a Diogo Costa cross moments later.

The Sailors then came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock in the 21st minute when Lennart’s cross from the right picked out Maxime, whose sweetly-struck volley crashed off the base of the crossbar.

But the home team did not have to wait long to make the breakthrough. Two minutes later, Maxime drifted into space and clipped a delicate pass into Lennart’s path, and the German showed superb control to bring it down before rifling his shot in off the underside of the bar to give the Sailors a deserved lead.

However, that advantage lasted only four minutes, as a handball call against Toni Datković handed Shan United a penalty, which Matheus Souza duly tucked it away to level the score.

Lennart and Shawal Anuar both had good chances to restore the lead as the Sailors pushed forward, and their persistence finally paid off in first-half stoppage time.

Lennart sparked the move by releasing Diogo down the right, and the full-back’s low cross into the box was cleverly dummied by Shawal, which allowed the ball to roll through for Maxime to sweep home for 2-1.

The goal was the departing Belgian’s 70th for the club, and added to his remarkable haul of 97 assists in 130 appearances since joining from Standard Liège in January 2022.

Despite going into the break with a lead, Ranko acknowledged that the Sailors should have put the game to bed long ago.

“My players should demand a little bit more from themselves. We should have finished this game a long time ago and at least scored one or two more goals,” said Ranko.

Maxime looked to add to his tally after the restart, but his effort flew over in the 64th minute. Anderson Lopes and Lennart then both forced saves from Kyaw Zin Phyo as the Sailors pressed hard for a third goal.

Yet, against the run of play, Shan United hauled themselves level once more in the 66th minute through Ryuji Hirota, who picked up a loose ball at the edge of the area and unleashed a thunderous drive which went in off the post to make it 2-2.

But the Sailors responded almost immediately, as two minutes later, Anderson slipped a clever pass into the box for Lennart, who produced a sublime backheel finish for his 12th goal of the season to restore the lead, drawing a roar from the 1,543 fans in attendance.

“There needs to be more adjustment, but of course I’m a different player on the wings than somebody else. That’s how I like to interpret myself. I think in this match I showed that I can play in a different position,” said Man of the Match Lennart, who impressed in a slightly altered role on the wings and underlined his attacking versatility.

The tempo eventually dipped in the final quarter of the match, but the Sailors managed the game well and closed out the contest without further incident.

By the end of the game, Ranko’s charges had recorded 23 shots to Shan United’s four – a clear reflection of the Sailors’ dominance in what had been billed as a must-win fixture. The result also marked the club’s second Shopee Cup victory, adding to last season’s triumph over Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur City (KL City) FC.

More importantly, the much-needed win keeps the Sailors firmly in the chase for qualification to the next round. They now sit three points behind Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) in second place in Group B, with two matches still to play.

“We’re still in the hunt with two matches to go, one away and one at home. It’s not going to be easy, but we’re going to do everything we can to go through,” said Ranko, as his side prepares to face Group B leaders Nam Định on 29 January.

For now, though, the Sailors will turn their attention back to domestic duties, as they look to close out the year on a positive note. Their final match of 2025 comes on Saturday (20 December) at Jalan Besar, where they host Balestier Khalsa in the second leg of the Singapore Cup semi-final, carrying a healthy 4-1 advantage from the first leg.

“It has been a long year, but in terms of matches we haven’t played that many games compared to last season,” said Ranko. “We’re happy to finally be back at this venue, and I would be very pleased if we can finish the year with strong support from our fans in our next match.”