Malaysia put up a strong fight but were unable to overcome South Korea in the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship quarter-finals.

The Tigers conceded the first goal right from the kick-off as Matthew Davies was unluckily beaten to a long ball by Cho Jae-Wan, who unleashed a half volley past goalkeeper Haziq Nadzli.

Despite the early setback, they took the game to the 2016 runners-up, creating chance after chance while keeping the South Koreans in check.

Ong Kim Swee's team had to wait until the 67th minute before finding their equalising goal as N. Thanabalan, who came on just 10 minutes earlier, headed home Safawi Rasid's cross at the near post.

With Malaysia putting a strong defensive showing, the game looked destined to head into extra time, but Han Seung-Gyu broke the Malaysians' hearts with a 85th minute goal.

The ball ricocheted off the South Korea midfielder just outside the penalty box as he quickly played a one-two with a team-mate before rounding Haziq for the goal.

The late goal sealed South Korea's ticket to the semi-finals, where they will face Uzbekistan, and Malaysia's exit from the tournament.

Although he was unhappy with the late goal, Ong was pleased with his team’s performance and praised his opposition.

"Overall the boys did really well," the Malaysia U-23 head coach said immediately after the match.

"At the end of the day, South Korea are one of the best teams and they did not panic even though we equalised, and they [went on] to punish us.

"To concede in the first minute of the game is a lack of concentration, and when you play against a good team, this is what they can do to you, so I hope the players will learn from this mistake."