Substitute Yousef Jaber scored early in the second half as United Arab Emirates warmed up for the AFC Asian Cup with a narrow 1-0 win over North Korea in Singapore on Sunday.

Jaber headed home an Ismail Matar free-kick after 52 minutes to give his side a morale-boosting victory at the Jurong West Stadium in the last of their four international friendlies before the start of the AFC Asian Cup.

UAE were fortunate to finish with a win as they found themselves under heavy pressure in the closing minutes with goalkeeper Majed Nasser making a string of good saves to keep the North Koreans at bay.

The opening half was a dull affair with both teams struggling to create openings on the bumpy pitch.

It was the Middle Eastern side that enjoyed the majority of possession and North Korea goalkeeper Ri Myong-guk was forced to come out of his area after eight minutes to head clear as striker Faisal Khalil chased a ball played over the Korean defence.

The East Asian side did fashion the best opportunity of the opening half with 13 minutes on the watch as Pak Nam-chol delivered a cross from the right for An Chol-hyok, whose header just cleared the crossbar.

At the other end, Haidar Alo Ali tested Ri Myong-guk eight minutes later with a fiercely struck drive from just outside the area that stung the hands of the North Korea goalkeeper.

UAE coach Bruno Metsu made three changes at half-time to inject some life into his side and the move paid off when one of the new additions broke the deadlock seven minutes after the break.

Left-back Jaber, who replaced Humaid Fakher, rose highest in the box to meet Matar's free-kick from the left with a glancing header that found its way into the net at the far post.

North Korea raised their game and went close to an equaliser four minutes after the hour mark when Jong Su-hyok worked an opening for himself in the crowded UAE box only to be denied by a last-ditch tackle by Basheer Saeed.

Two minutes later, the ball was flicked towards Kim Yu-chol off a Choe Chol-man free-kick, but his hurried shot from the edge of the six-yard area flew well wide of the target.

The North Koreans turned up the pressure in the closing stages and Jong Su-hyok nearly grabbed the equaliser with seven minutes remaining, but his volley from the edge of the area was well saved by Nasser in the UAE goal.

The custodian produced another save 30 seconds later as he dived low to his right to deny Jon Chol after the North Korea striker had been played through before keeping out a An Chol-hyok header two minutes later.

UAE open their AFC Asian Cup Group B campaign against Vietnam in Hanoi next Sunday after claiming a 3-1 friendly victory over Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, suffering a 2-0 defeat by Saudi Arabia and sharing a 2-2 draw with Bahrain on Wednesday.