The visitors were in control of the match throughout the 90 minutes and scored four goals in a game for the third time this campaign as they made it four wins from six in one of the competition's most hard-fought groups.

The crowd at the Suyinbaev Stadium were treated to a five-goal thriller with the action heating up after seven minutes when Istiklol midfielder Fatkhullo Fatkhulloev opened the scoring from the penalty spot.

Shortly before half-time, a Ulugbek Riskulov free-kick levelled proceedings for Alay but the hosts were unable to maintain their lead heading into the break as Romish Dzalilov restored Istiklol’s advantage moments later.

The Malaysian side, winners of the tournament in 2015, knew they needed to win by at least three goals to overturn the two-goal deficit in their head-to-head record with the Vietnamese side and at least finish second in Group H to give themselves a chance of going through as the best runners-up.

That looked like it was on the cards after a blistering opening to the match from the home side, dominating the exchanges before finally taking the lead after 36 minutes when Safawi Rasid blasted home from the edge of the area.

Their lead was doubled just minutes later when Syafiq Ahmad rose to head home La’vere Corbin-Ong’s cross as JDT looked headed for a comfortable victory.