Thursday, April 27 2006 14:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Singapore: Gamba Osaka coach Akira Nishino admitted his side were 'desperate' after watching their chances of a place in the AFC Champions League quarter-finals slip away.

The J-League champions crashed 2-0 to China's Dalian Shide in a crucial showdown in Group E of Asia's top club competition on Wednesday evening to see their campaign all but evaporate.

"This game turned out to be much more difficult that what we expected," he said. "We are an attacking team and it is really a pity we were not able to score."

The Chinese Super League champions are joint leaders of the group on nine points from four games alongside Chonbuk Motors of South Korea. Gamba has six points with two games to play.

Petrovic had Zhou Jie, Zhang Yaokun to thank for victory

Dalian's Serbian coach Vladimir Petrovic had Zhou Jie and Zhang Yaokun to thank for victory, as well as a boisterous home crowd which he praised.

"The home audience made the big difference. The home crowd helped us win, they were our 12th player on the pitch," he said. "We are very happy to be the winner. However, it's not time to celebrate yet because we still have matches to play."

"We have nothing to worry about ahead of our next match in Japan. I think we can overcome Gamba because we defeated them 3-2 in the first leg at home," he said after his side's 1-0 victory at Vietnam's Da Nang.

Despite having one of the strongest leagues in Asia, Japan could find itself without a representative in the last eight.