Goals by Abdoh Autef and Ahmed Al Fraidi ensured victory for Al Johar in his first game since taking over from Brazilian Helio dos Anjos, who was dismissed last Sunday after a 2-1 victory over Lebanon in Riyadh.

"I’m happy with way we performed tonight considering that I only just took over the team. Given time, this team will do even better," said the former Asian Coach of the Year, who also expressed his gratitude to the former coach.

"I have to thank Dos Anjos for work he has done for the team as he was a very hard working and diligent man."

While the Saudis were rarely extended by a plucky but ultimately limited Singapore side, Al Johar paid credit to the ASEAN champions.

"It was not an easy game for us as Singapore showed in their last two games that they are difficult opponents.

"They only lost 1-0 to Uzbekistan last week and tonight they made it difficult for us at times."

Singapore goalkeeper Hassan Sunny kept the Saudis at bay with an impressive display that earned praise from coach Raddy Avramovic.

"Hassan did extremely well today. His attitude has been very good in every training session and tonight he gave a good performance," said the Serbian.

"He has a very good chance of starting again in our final game against Lebanon in Beirut. In our last two games, we will give other players like Hassan a chance to prove what they can do at this level.

"For us, World Cup qualification is over but we need to look forward to the future now.

"In games like tonight, we needed to score first especially against a team like Saudi Arabia. We have no chance if we don’t score first as they are quality opponents."