A second-half blitz in which they scored four goals ensured the Maldivian club stayed top of Group E ahead of India’s JSW Bengaluru.

Coming off a confidence boosting win over Bengaluru FC in their last outing, the home side were determined to maintain their good run of form, but it was the visitors who almost struck first when Ndukaku Alison missed a glorious chance.

Ndukaku then made matters worse by conceding a penalty 10 minutes later when he fouled Ali Ashfaq in the area. Fasir took the spot-kick responsibilities and made no mistake to give the home side the lead.

Ashfaq and Fasir continued to threaten as the half wore on, but neither could find the back of the net to add to their one goal lead.

Just 15 seconds into the second half and the visitors were level thanks to a sumptuous volley from Seiya Kojima.

But the goal did little to swing the momentum of the match, and three goals in seven minutes, including two to Fasir to complete his hat-trick and one to Ashfaq, completely swung the match in favour of the home side.

​The three points took Altyn's tally to 11 and the Turkmenistan side will face Tajikistan's Istiklol, who lead by two points, on May 16 to decide the group winners, who will advance to the next stage.

Ashyrov Mekan gave his side the lead in the seventh minute and Altyn didn't look back from there on as they turned on the pressure.

Annadurdyyev Altymyrat widened Altyn's lead in the 25th minute to ensure his side went into the half time break firmly in control.

With rivals New Radiant defeating Abahani Limited Dhaka earlier in the day to open up a three-point lead at the top of the group, Bengaluru knew they needed a win to stay in the competition.

Bottom-placed Aizawl began the match brightly but Bengaluru soon wrestled control of the match with two quick-fire goals after the first quarter of an hour. Captain Sunil Chhetri won and converted a penalty in the 16th minute before Daniel Segovia finished off Erik Paartalu's pass just moments later to make it 2-0.

At the half-hour mark, Albert Roca's men pulled away further with a third goal, which was netted by young winger Udanta Singh. Chhetri was involved this time as well, setting up Singh with a squared ball to sweep home.

The home side were searching for their first win of the campaign, but fell behind early when an attempted clearance from Yen Ting-Yung fell perfectly into the path of Torrao who slotted home from the edge of the area.

Hang Yuen found a way back into the side less then 10 minutes later when Hsu Yi’s floated cross into the box was met by Chen Ching-Hsuan, who beat Batista to the ball to head home into an open net.

It took just over five minutes for the visitors to restore their lead, however, with Huang Shih-Yuan heading the ball into his own net on 25 minutes.

Huang Chiu-Lin then produced two fine saves in the space of a minute to deny Torrao a second of the evening and keep the match at 2-1 heading into half time.

Prior to the match, Hwaepul needed a win to keep their Knockout Stage hopes alive, but suffered a bad start when An Il-bom opened the scoring for 4.25 SC in the 19th minute, scoring his eighth goal of the tournament.

Less than five minutes later, Hwaepul were pushed further back with Kim Yu-song's strike making it 2-0 for 4.25 SC.

Mun Ho-il's charges were determined to reduce their deficit before the half-time whistle, but 4.25 SC defended resolutely to maintain their two-goal advantage at the Kim Il-sung Stadium.

Despite bringing Ri Il-san and Kim Ju-won in the 63rd and 65th minutes respectively, coupled with 4.25 SC's impressive defensive backline, a goal continued to elude them, while 4.25 SC held strong to claim their fifth win in Group I and an Inter-zone Semi-final appearance with a game to spare.

After a quiet first half, the 2017 runners-up came out of the half-time break with renewed energy and drive to find a winner, coming close within just three minutes when Artem Baranovsky’s header from Fatkhulloev’s cross was cleared away.

The winning goal did come just moments later when Fatkhulloev received Akhtam Nazarov’s pass just outside the penalty area and drilled an effort into the bottom corner of goalkeeper Babayev Batyr’s net for his third goal of the campaign.

The hosts pushed for an equaliser and had two dangerous chances back-to-back in the final 10 minutes as Merdan Kurbanov tested goalkeeper Nikola Stosic from distance but the Serbian came unscathed on both occasions to help his side to all three points.

The Tajik side extended their unbeaten run to five games as they moved to 13 points, in pole position to snatch the group’s Inter-Zonal Semi-finals ticket. Ahal, meanwhile stayed at four points in third place.