Two more finals.

That was the rallying cry from Lion City Sailors Head Coach Aleksandar Ranković to his players after their last-gasp 3-2 defeat to Indonesia’s Persib Bandung in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL) Two on Thursday (7 November) night.

In front of a 3,152-strong crowd at the Jalan Besar Stadium, Ranko’s men were mere minutes away from making history and securing a spot in the ACL Two last-16.

However, two stoppage-time goals from Persib turned what initially seemed like a comfortable Sailors victory into a heartbreaking first ACL Two defeat for the hosts.

Group F’s other match also saw late drama, with Port FC clinching a 2-1 victory over Zhejiang Professional in China thanks to Felipe Amorim’s 90th-minute winner. The result pushed the Sailors down to second place in the group, though they remain three points ahead of third-placed Persib with two matches left to play.

This also means that Group F remains wide open, and all four teams can still qualify for the next round.

For Ranko, however, the equation is simple: Sailors must treat their remaining two Group F games as ‘finals’ and give everything to secure a place in the last 16.

“It’s an open group now — any of the four teams can progress to the knockout stage, so it’s going to be two finals for everyone,” Ranko said in his post-match press conference. “It’s a shame; had we won today, we’d already be through. But perhaps we’ll have to do it the hard way.”

However, the evening began swimmingly well for the Sailors, with the in-form Shawal Anuar giving the hosts the lead just nine minutes in.

Maxime’s brilliant long ball found the Singapore international, who took a touch to control it before expertly lobbing Kevin Ray Mendoza in the Persib goal, while the retreating Gustavo França could only watch in despair as the ball found its way into the net.

The Sailors doubled their lead in the 23rd minute when Lionel Tan’s long throw-in was unwittingly flicked on to the back post by Persib defender Nick Kuipers, allowing Maxime Lestienne to get ahead of his marker and head the ball home.

This was Max’s first headed goal since joining the Sailors, with his last one coming for Standard Liege against KAS Eupen in the Belgian Pro League back in April 2021.

With a two-goal lead in hand, a confident Sailors side comfortably controlled the first half, and barely gave Persib a sniff at goal. The closest the visitors came to scoring was in the 26th minute, when Tyronne del Pino’s curler struck the crossbar.

Reflecting on his side’s dominant performance in the opening 45 minutes, Ranko said, “It was an excellent first half, and we should have finished the game. We played at home, so we wanted to attack quickly and make a statement with our actions, especially from our strikers. I think we played close to a perfect first half.”

The Sailors started the second half the same way they ended the first — on the front foot — and threatened the Persib goal through efforts from Shawal and Maxime. At the other end, Sailors goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud was called into action on the hour mark, tipping over Del Pino’s accurate strike.

Both teams made key changes in the 65th minute, with Sailors skipper Hariss Harun coming on for the home side, while Persib’s top scorer from last season, David da Silva, also joined the fray.

The Sailors came close to extending their lead and sealing the victory in the 79th minute when Christopher van Huizen delivered a pinpoint cross to Maxime, who directed a header towards goal, only for Persib centre-back França to make a superb clearance off the line.

That heroic piece of defending eventually proved to be more crucial than anyone could have anticipated.

Just three minutes later, the reigning Indonesian champions found their lifeline when centre-back Kuipers unleashed a long-range shot that struck the crossbar, and Da Silva reacted quickest to head in the rebound and pull a goal back for his side.

It was a goal that radically changed the complexion of the game, as Ranko explained: “I had a feeling they (Persib) gave up after 2-0, but we brought them back into the game with the 2-1 goal, so that’s on us.

“We need to be smarter. We need to keep the ball a little longer, not chase a third goal if it’s not on, and avoid giving the ball away too easily. That was the main message to the players, especially in the first half when we didn’t face much pressure from them.”

Indeed, the goal gave Persib the momentum they needed to press forward in the final minutes in search of an equaliser. And they thought they had found it in the 85th minute through Mailson Lima, but his strike was ruled out for a foul on Hafiz Nor.

With Port’s win over Zhejiang, the Sailors needed to secure a victory to guarantee qualification to the knockout rounds of the ACL Two.

Alas, it was not to be.

In the third minute of stoppage time, Croatian full-back Mateo Kocijan broke the hearts of the partisan crowd at Jalan Besar, as he unleashed a rocket into the net that Izwan could do nothing about and levelled it up at 2-2.

But worse was to come for the Singapore outfit, as just two minutes later, Del Pino broke free from the Sailors’ defence and kept his composure to score what proved to be the winner for Persib.

Despite the ‘cruel’ end to the game, Ranko struck an optimistic tone, insisting that his side has the quality to secure the necessary results in the remaining two group games and qualify for the next round of the ACL Two.

“In football, sometimes it can be very cruel, and out of nothing, you concede two goals. But it’s a tough pill to swallow,” the Serb admitted.

“However, we have to keep our heads up. This is part of the job, and we’ve shown we can compete with every opponent in this group. That’s exactly what we’ll continue to do. We have one more match at home.

“Today, luck turned its back on us. It’s a shame we had to lose this game, but that’s football.”

The Sailors now have a three-week break to regroup before travelling to China to face Zhejiang Professional on 28 November, a team they defeated 2-0 in the reverse fixture.

They will then wrap up the ACL Two group phase against Port a week later (5 December) at Jalan Besar Stadium, with that being the final match for the Sailors in 2024.