Kuala Lumpur: Despite having blown a two-goal lead in the first leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup final in Malaysia, Vietnam remain confident that they hold the upper hand heading into Saturday’s reverse fixture.

Goals from central midfielders Nguyen Huy Hung and Pham Duc Huy inside the first 25 minutes had the visitors in a strong position before Shahrul Saad pulled one back in the 36^th minute to reduce the gap at the break.

Starlet Safawi Rasid then drew Malaysia level on the hour to secure the 2-2 draw in front of another sold-out and raucous Bukit Jalil crowd.

The two away goals though could still prove decisive for Vietnam, according to defender Tran Dinh Trong.

“Having those two goals and the draw is an advantage, I agree, but not such a big one and we still need to make sure that we don’t concede any goals in the next match in Hanoi.”

That will very much be the message after having allowed the Harimau Malaya to fight their way back into the contest and the 21-year-old said the main emphasis back in Hanoi must be to contain the threat of an attack-minded Malaysian side.

“We need to concentrate and have good preparation to fix any concerns and do our best.

“Today the team tried our best to get a good result from the first leg but we regret only being able to take a draw, but that’s football.”

“We’ve played together for a long, long time. We did our best in this match and also considered the result but we’re not worried too about the draw – the result is not a problem for us and we’re looking forward to the second leg.”