Nam Dinh showed determination to fight back twice to secure a point that saw them stay one ahead of Tampines Rovers at the halfway stage with the two sides to meet again on November 6.
The home side survived a scare in the opening minutes when Kyoga Nakamura lost possession to Joseph Mpande in the penalty box but Syazwan Buhari came to his rescue by denying the Ugandan forward from point blank range.
Tampines recovered in style, opening the scoring in the 12th minute when Glenn Kweh broke through on the right flank before finding Shah Shahiran with a cutback for a precise finish into the bottom corner.
Taufik Suparno missed a glorious opportunity to double Tampines’ lead in the 23rd minute when he got his touch completely wrong with the goal gaping but Seia Kunori ensured the miss was quickly forgotten as the Japanese forward smashed home from distance a minute later.
To their credit, Nam Dinh refused to give up and their determination saw them score twice to take the game into the break on level terms.
Rafaelson turned in Lucas Silva’s pinpoint cross in the 32nd minute, then Mpande nodded home from a corner kick 10 minutes later.
The end-to-end action resumed in the second half with both sides seeking the next goal.
It was Tampines who regained their lead in the 62nd minute when Kweh’s corner kick found Shuya Yamashita at the back post, with the defender producing a thumping header to beat Tran Nguyen Manh.
Nam Dinh bounced back yet again with substitute Nguyen Tuan Anh allowed to turn inside the box in the 76th minute before steering his shot past a stranded Syazwan.
