HONG KONG Palestine turned in a gutsy performance to pip Malaysia 1-0 Sunday as Qatar cruised to a 2-0 victory over Hong Kong to cement top spot at the end of the first leg of their group's 2002 Asian World Cup qualifiers.

Group 3 favorites Qatar made it a hat-trick of wins when an own goal arising from a cruel bounce of a Hong Kong foot sealed the tiny Persian Gulf state's three points.

With a five point advantage over second placed Palestine few would bet against Qatar from moving into the second round when they host the return leg at the end of the month, AFP reported.

Palestinian striker Mohammed al-Jeesh scored the only goal in the day's frenetic first match with a long range blast late in the second half that sent his teammates into rapturous celebrations before the sparse crowd.

The Palestinians, made up almost exclusively of amateurs from the violence-wracked West Bank and Gaza, defended heroically throughout the second half as Malaysia launched wave after wave of attacks.

Malaysian striker Akmal Rizal Rakhili should have equalized in the dying minutes of the match but he pulled his shot wide.

Palestine's Egyptian Coach Mustafa Abdelghali was ecstatic by his team's performance.

"The result today came from my God.

"This is a fantastic confidence booster going to Qatar at the end of the month. We still have a chance to qualify for the finals," he said.

His counterpart, Englishman Allan Harris was gracious in defeat but rued a succession of missed opportunities.

"We played well and played good football but we missed our chances. However, I can't fault my players for effort. They gave me 100 percent," said Harris.

The gutsy Palestinians upped the tempo in the second quarter piling pressure on the Malaysian defense but consistently squandered good attacking positions with wild misdirected shots on goal.

The breakthrough came in the 36th minute when a defensive blunder down the left forced the Malaysian keeper to hurriedly clear a ball straight to Al Jeesh who took aim from 30 meters (yards) out and blasted the ball into the back of the net.

The Malaysians should have converted any one of a dozen chances on goal in the final 10 minutes of the second half, but a combination of poor execution and a fiery Palestinian defense marshalled by Captain Saeb Jendeya denied them the equalizer.

Qatar, without ever reaching top gear, showed they were a league above a brave yet hapless Hong Kong.

Both teams peppered the goals in a pulsating opening 15 minutes but ultimately Qatar's superior ball control and power up front was enough to down the home side.

A break down the left in the 42 minute from Mubarak Mostafa Fazli, who appeared to be offside, drew Hong Kong goalkeeper Xiao Guoji out of his area leaving Qatar's prolific goal scorer Mohamed Salem "The Prince" al-Enazi with an easy tap in for his fourth goal of the qualifiers.

Hong Kong's day was epitomized by a defensive blunder in the 67th minute from a rebound of Feng Jizhi's boot that trickled over the line past a floundering keeper.

The hosts' Dutch Coach Arie van der Zouwen was disappointed by the result but realistic.

"I am disappointed. When you play against Qatar you know you need a little bit of luck in decisions with referees and shots on goal but this was not our lucky day and so far its not our lucky tournament."

"I can't blame the payers for this result, they played up to their level."

Qatar's Bosnian Coach Dzemal Hadziabdic said his focus was now on the second leg.

"We have nine goals and nine points. We know what we have to do in Doha."

The winners of the 10 preliminary round groups in Asia advance to two second round groups of five, the winners of which qualify for the finals in Japan and South Korea. A third team could qualify via a playoff against a European team.