Sydney: A goal from second-half substitute Tomi Juric gave Western Sydney Wanderers a 1-0 victory over Al-Hilal in the first leg of the Asian Champions League final at Parramatta Stadium on Saturday.

Wanderers, aiming to become the first Australian team to win Asia’s biggest club prize, were under the cosh for the first hour of the match 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 scored a goal to give the home side a slender lead over the twice Asian champions into the second leg at King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh next Saturday.

The Saudis will count themselves unlucky to have come away with nothing after dominating possession and territory and reducing Wanderers to defending deep in front of their penalty area for much of the match.

Al-Hilal striker Nasser Al-Shamrani had the best chances to break the first-half stalemate, catching Wanderers keeper Ante Covic dithering in the 22nd minute and lashing his shot high and wide when through on goal just before halftime.

Wanderers quickly discovered that the visitors would not be outmuscled up front and before the break managed just a single attempt on goal from Antony Golec, which was well wide.

Former Brazil midfielder Thiago Neves pushed further forward in the second half looking to unlock the home defence and Al-Hilal started to look more dangerous down the flanks.

The match was transformed when Juric, returning from a groin problem, came on just before the hour mark and he had already made Wanderers look sharper in attack before he shattered the deadlock in the 64th minute.

Golec broke quickly down the left wing and when he whipped his cross into the box, Juric got ahead of his marker and slid the ball under Al-Hilal keeper Abdullah Al-Sudairy and into the net.

Juric could have had a second eight minutes later when he ran at the Al-Hilal defence, sending his markers one way and then the other to find room for his shot only for the ball to come back off the post.

The self-belief that has been behind the two-year-old Australian club’s extraordinary progress to the final was now coursing through the home side as they scented the upset of another Asian powerhouse was a real possibility.

The 13-times Saudi champions kept plugging away, though, and Covic had to be at his sharpest in the final 10 minutes to keep them out and maintain the narrow advantage.