Bryan Robson’s competitive reign as Thailand coach got off to an ideal start as his side defeated Singapore 3-1 in an AFC Asian Cup Group E qualifier on Saturday.

With regional pride at stake, Sutee Suksomkit's 12th minute penalty, Therdsak Chaiman's second half strike and another clinical finish from Sutee proved enough to separate the bitter Southeast Asian rivals on a feisty night at Singapore‘s Kallang National Stadium.

Mustafic Fahrudin's last gasp penalty did little to wipe the smiles off Thai faces, and whilst the bruising victory brought Robson his first meaningful victory, the win also raises Thai hopes that qualification for the 2011 finals in Qatar may be within their reach.

With a return game against Singapore next Wednesday, as well as a home fixture against Jordan and a trip to Iran still to come, Thailand now find themselves occupying the group's top qualifying spot with five points, one ahead of Iran who were scheduled to play Jordan later on Saturday.

Nevertheless, Robson remains adamant that there is still plenty of work to do.

"It is always great to win your first competitive game and obviously I am very happy to start off with a win," declared the Manchester United legend.

"This is a good result but we are preparing for Wednesday already. It is a big game for us and we need to be concentrating from now on.

"We will go back to the hotel, the players will eat well and then go to their beds, because it is important that we recover as best we can and prepare 100 percent for the game on Wednesday.

"This is only half a job done and we need to complete the job at home. Winning one game means nothing, we have to build on the good things the players did tonight and we need to do that in the next game.

"I am not thinking about qualifying. All I am thinking about is making sure we get a positive result against Singapore in the home match on Wednesday and I am not looking any further ahead than that game."

After playing second fiddle to their energetic and combative visitors in the first half, a rejuvenated Singapore went close to levelling matters on several occasions after the break, a storm the Thais duly weathered until Therdsak on 75 minutes and Sutee shortly after killed the contest.

Robson, whilst happy with how his charges had dug deep before administering two sucker punches, was nevertheless quick to admonish his team for their late lapse.

"We got a little bit stretched compared to the first half," the 52-year-old said.

"We were a little bit fortunate on a couple of occasions when the ball bounced kindly for us, otherwise Singapore might have got back into the game.

"But on the counter attack I thought we deserved the second and third goals. What disappointed me though was that after we scored the third goal we lost concentration.

"I feel that the one weakness we have is that now and again we lose concentration after playing really well. So, from now on, I do not want the team to be losing concentration no matter what the score."

Whilst Singapore fans in the crowd of 22,183 were left to lick their wounds, the travelling Thailand supporters greeted the final whistle with raucous delight, a display of support that was not lost on Robson.

"The Thai fans were terrific but the one thing I will always say is that players have got to give fans something to cheers about, and I thought our players did that.

"They worked hard and they were disciplined in their performance so that gave the fans the encouragement to support us.

"Hopefully in the return game we will have really passionate fans who will cheer the team on to a good result again."

By Ian Griffiths - Senior Editor www.espnstar.com