With Albirex Niigata (S) having already progressed to the semifinal from Group C, Wednesday's The New Paper (TNP) League Cup game between Home United and Sporting Westlake on Wednesday is inconsequential.
However, Home United will want to use the opportunity to put up a convincing display and serve their intentions for the remainder of the Great Eastern Yeo's S.League season.
Protector's defender Abdil Qaiyyim said that it was "important" to get a good result against the National Football League (NFL) Division 1 side to establish a winning rhythm.
"It's all about maintaining a winning mentality," 26-year-old Abdil told ESPN FC. "Sporting Westlake qualified for the Cup and we must respect them as a competitor.
"The league season resumes in about a month's time and we will need to use every game before that to remain competitive."
To do that, Philippe Aw's charges will have to start being more clinical. As has been much of the problem so far this season, Home fell to a 2-0 loss to the White Swans in their group opener despite having a plethora of chances.
"We are always dictating play, causing problems for the opponent and controlling the game," said Abdil, the only Home player to have featured in all 12 of their S.League matches so far.
"If we had scored with some of the chances we had created, the opponents would have had to open up and perhaps this would have allowed us to cause further damage."
To that end, the return of key striker Ken Ilso from injury is a big boost, with the former Bundesliga player's start against Albirex being his first in three months.
"As you saw in the first four games, Ken's finishing is clinical and we are admittedly missing that at the moment," said Abdil of 28-year-old Ilso, who remains the club's joint-top scorer.
"Our other striker, Masrezwan Masturi, is also close to full fitness. So it is good to see both of them back. Hopefully, they can be our catalysts for the second half of the season."
Home are looking to surge up the S.League table -- they are sixth out of 10 teams and 11 points off leaders Warriors FC.
Abdil is confident Home's attack-minded philosophy of patient combination play will reap rewards sooner rather than later, starting with Sporting.
Jaslee Hatta's team showed resilience during their 2-0 loss to Albirex, though they will be hit by the suspensions of Ruhaizad Ismail and Sutrisno Salleh.
"Playing against NFL teams is never easy," Abdil said. "They will give everything they have, like how they did against Albirex.
"Of course results matter. But we are being positive because the statistics that we rack up after every game are very encouraging.
"We have not turned the corner yet, but I can feel that we are just about to do so."
Home United Probable Lineup: Shahril Jantan, R. Aaravin, Abdil Qaiyyim, Redzwan Atan, Ang Zhi Wei, Song Ui-young, Azhar Sairudin, Stanely Ng, Azhar Sairudin, Kamel Ramdani, Ken Ilso.
Sporting Westlake Probable Lineup: Asyraf Asyfar, Syed Karim, Rahman Hassan, Fathi Yunos, Hairulnazari Abdullah, Dawood Anuar, Amir Asyraff, Ryuta Hamamatsu, Yuto Nagai, Suriyandi Naib, Hakim Abdullah.