Sarayoot Chaikamdee gave this summer's Asian Cup co-hosts the lead and a crucial away goal after 32 minutes of the second round, first-leg clash but Fekre Al Hubaishi drew the home side level 10 minutes later.

Meanwhile, Singapore established a valuable advantage with a 2-0 victory over Tajikistan as Aleksander Duric proved the hero in netting two first-half goals on his debut.

The Bosnian-born forward latched onto keeper Lionel Lewis' clearance and rifled into the bottom corner to open the scoring after 24 minutes.

Duric doubled the lead just before half-time when he followed up his own effort to give Singapore a good chance of making the third round going into the second leg in Tajikistan a week on Sunday.

"I am very happy, relieved actually," Duric said.

"I was very nervous before the game. I couldn't sleep last night but after the first goal I relaxed."

Singapore boss Radojko Avramovic added: "I am happy with the win but we could have done to score a few more goals in the second-half.

"If we want to qualify for the next round, we need to score more goals over there."

Finally, Indonesia's hopes of progressing were dealt a severe blow after they were thrashed 4-1 at home by Syria.

Feras Esmaeel opened the scoring for the visitors after 17 minutes before Mohammed Al Zeno doubled the lead just after the half-hour mark.

Budi Sudarsono halved the deficit on 39 minutes but Ziad Chabo restored the advantage before substitute Zian Al Fandi added a fourth in injury time.