Myanmar coach Antoine Hey believes his side were full of nerves in the first half of their 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup opener against Cambodia, before they recovered from being a goal down to run out 4-1 winners.

The hosts were the last team to begin their Group A campaign and failed to impose themselves in the early stages at Mandalar Thiri Stadium against a Cambodia side that had lost their opening game to Malaysia last Thursday.

But, a goal down at the break, they found their form after the restart and Bo Bo Hlaing levelled on the hour. Substitute Aung Thu missed from the spot, but further goals from Aung Than Htet, Aung Si Thu and a second for Bo Bo Hlaing rounded off a convincing victory.

“It was definitely not our best match in the first 45 minutes; we could see that the players were a little bit nervous, they were shaky and feeling the pressure,” said Hey.

“[At half-time], I  just encouraged them. The players were tired and simply not used to this environment and atmosphere. They were a bit locked, so we encouraged them and made tactical changes that we were planning before the match.

“You hope it’s going to work and once we scored the first goal you could see the burden fell off their shoulders and they felt more comfortable with the situation.”

Myanmar’s win stand the team in good stead ahead of a trip to Laos on Saturday, when they will be looking to take a further three points against a side who have lost their opening two games, to Vietnam and Malaysia.

Six points from six would be the perfect start for Hey’s side ahead to crunch ties with the Vietnamese and the Malaysians, but the German will be taking nothing for granted against the group’s bottom side.

“We thought that [today’s] match would be decided in the second half against a weakened Cambodia, who played four days ago and travelled all the way here,” added Hey.

“It worked perfectly for us today but we are now in the same position as Cambodia were – we will travel and have a match in four days.

“We have one or two knocks and injuries, and we are taking it step by step, but we want to stay in the competition longer than the group phase.