SINGAPORE, March 21 — Branko Ivankovic’s reign as China coach got off to a disappointing start as they squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Singapore in a World Cup qualifier today.

China appeared to be headed for victory after a first-half brace by Wu Lei, who also missed a penalty.

But goals after the interval by substitutes Faris Ramli and Jacob Mahler secured a share of the points for the home side.

It left China third in Group C of the Asian qualifiers, three points adrift of leaders South Korea and behind Thailand on goal difference.

The visitors broke the deadlock after 10 minutes when Wang Shangyuan’s cross was met by Wu, who sent a glancing header past goalkeeper Hassan Sunny.

China had the chance to extend their lead on the half-hour mark when they were awarded a penalty after Wu’s shot was handled by Nazrul Nazari.

But the 33-year-old striker’s weak attempt was easily saved by Hassan.

Wu made amends in first-half stoppage time when he fired home a rebound after Hassan could only parry a shot by Xie Pengfei.

Singapore pulled a goal back eight minutes after the interval when Lionel Tan’s long ball found Faris, whose speculative effort from the edge of the box rolled past goalkeeper Yan Junling and went in off the base of the post.

Wu thought he had completed his hat-trick and restored China’s two-goal advantage in the 74th minute when he turned in Fernandinho’s cross, but his attempt was ruled out as the ball had already gone out of play.

Singapore took full advantage of the reprieve and grabbed the equaliser nine minutes from time after Mahler pounced on a loose ball in the box and fired into the roof of the net.

The two sides meet again on Tuesday in Tianjin. — AFP