Bahrain have stunned Japan by winning 1-0 in Asian cup qualifying overnight. Salman Issa scored the winner in the 24th minute to send his nation to the top of Group A with two wins from two matches.

But Bahrain coach Milan Macala insisted his side would remain grounded despite taking the scalp of the Japanese.

"We are happy with the win but we will not overreact because we have more hard matches to come," Macala said.

"Our next match is very important because it will be against Uzbekistan.

"I'm happy that we managed to beat Japan and we produced a good performance. However, we made some mistakes in the second-half that we should try to avoid in future matches.

"We were the best side in the first-half but the performance dropped in the second period," he added.

"I was surprised that Japan didn't have any clear chances in the game.

"We were under a lot of pressure before the match but the players were great and they knew how to deal with it.

"We have now six points from two games but we don't want to overreact because we have important matches to come."