SINGAPORE - Finding the back of the net with an injury-time goal is an experience many footballers would relish, but "bittersweet" was how Jordan Emaviwe described his dramatic late strike for the Singapore Under-23s in their SEA Games opener against Laos on Saturday (May 7).

At the Thien Truong Stadium in Vietnam, the 1.92m defender extended his gangly left leg to jab the ball home in the sixth minute of stoppage time to level the score and help his team avoid an embarrassing defeat against a side traditionally seen as one of the region's minnows.

"It could have been worse, we could have finished the game without any points," said the 21-year-old Emaviwe, who was introduced as a second-half substitute.

"We really wanted to kick off our SEA Games campaign with three points, but the end of the day we'll take the one, given the situation we were in."

Singapore had trailed Laos 2-0 and looked set for defeat until fellow substitute Glenn Kweh pulled a goal back in the 89th minute, before Emaviwe's injury-time leveller.

Last October, Emaviwe had also scored deep in injury time - five minutes after the regulation time then - to help the U23s rescue a 2-2 draw with Timor Leste in qualifiers for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championship played at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

He grinned and shrugged his shoulders when asked about his seeming affliction for late strikes, but offered an explanation for his nose for goals.

"I was a striker when I was young before dropping back to midfield around Secondary 2 (14-years-old)," said the youngster, who spent three years at Swiss second-tier side Chiasso from 2017-2020.

"So yeah, I played as a striker for a good chunk of my life. I only really played as a defender when I joined the Young Lions (at the start of the 2021)."

Emaviwe, whose father is Nigerian and late mother was a Singaporean Chinese, is hoping to make a big impact in Singapore's second game, against record 16-time SEA Games champions Thailand on Monday.

He and his teammates watched the Thais' campaign opener against Malaysia from the team hotel after their draw with Laos and said they are all champing at the bit to put on an improved showing.

The Thais lost 2-1 after conceding an injury-time goal, having played more than half the game with 10 men following a red card to defender Jonathan Khemdee.

"It was a very intense, very good game," noted Emaviwe. "We'd definitely like to challenge ourselves against (Thailand)... We're all looking forward to the next game. Everyone wants to do well for the country and come back with something."

Singapore coach Nazri Nasir, while pleased with his side's never-say-die attitude that earned them a point against Laos, admitted his players needed to improve.

He pointed out the team's slow start in the opening exchanges, and lapses in concentration for each of the goals they conceded, as areas they need to rectify.

Nazri said Thailand's defeat will make them extra dangerous because "they will be even hungrier to beat us".

But he said he believes his charges have what it takes to nullify their opponents, who are also motivated by a five-million baht (S$201,718) bonus dangled by the team's billionaire team manager Nualphan Lamsan.

Nazri, a former national skipper, said: "I always tell our players that in football, we can plan however we want, but that extra work you put in, that extra effort, is where it counts.

"That first tackle or challenge, running at goal, taking shots and chances we get, that will be what makes the difference."

He said getting his players to replicate the determination they showed to earn Emaviwe's equaliser, would go a long way against the Thais.

"Everybody was making challenges, winning the ball and headers, and of course Jordan made it count," he said.

"So that (2-2) result was about teamwork. We worked hard and worked together, and we have to do that against Thailand too."

There is also added intrigue to the game as the Thais could have ex-Singapore youth international attacking midfielder Ben Davis in their starting line-up again.

Davis, who was even called up for the senior Lions squad once but did not earn a cap, had defaulted his national service obligations in 2019, and opted to represent his country of birth. He was born in Phuket to a Thai mother and an English father and moved to Singapore with his family at age five before becoming a citizen four years later.