SYDNEY: A superb strike from second-half substitute Tomi Juric put Western Sydney Wanderers one step away from becoming the first Australian club to win the continental title by beating Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal 1-0 in the first leg of the Asian Champions League final on Saturday.

Wanderers were under siege for the first hour of the match at Parramatta Stadium until the Socceroos striker Juric came on for Brendon Santalab.

Four minutes later, three quarters of the 20,053 crowd were in raptures as he gave the home side a slender lead over the twice-Asian champions to take into the second leg at King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh next Saturday.

Juric almost gave the Wanderers a two-goal cushion but his shot came off the post with goalkeeper Abdullah Al-Sudairy well beaten.

“It’s definitely a big help for us going there in those kind of conditions and we have to perform well over there to finish the job off because it’s only half done at the moment,” Juric said.

“If we go over there full of confidence as we are now and stick to our structure and our game plan I think we can bring this one home.”

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2014