After a goalless first half, Ibrahim Mahudhee gave Maziya the lead only for Bengaluru to reply through Francisco Nili's penalty. Cornelius Ezekiel's late strike, however, gave the Maldives side the first leg advantage.

The sides meet again in the return leg next week with the winners earning a place in Group E alongside India’s Chennai City FC, TC Sports Club of Maldives and Bangladesh’s Bashundhara Kings

A goal from Ukrainian midfielder Oleksandr Ihnatenko six minutes after half-time proved decisive on the day, putting the Kyrgyzstan Cup winners 90 minutes away from group stage qualification, with the tie to be decided when Khujand host the second leg next week.

The winners of the two-legged tie will join FC Istiklol, FC Dordoi and Altyn Asyr FC in Group D, which begins on March 11.

Bengaluru’s domestic title bid took a dent after the Indian Super League champions suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Kerala Blasters on Saturday.

The result was a setback for Cuadrat’s side, who booked their spot in the Continental Play-offs in style after defeating Bhutan’s Paro FC 10-1 on aggregate last week.

Canadian Webb broke the deadlock for the Singaporean side midway through the first half before Boris Kopitovic added a second in the 64th minute as Tampines looked to be heading for a comfortable victory.

The Indonesian visitors fought back, though, with Ferdinand Sinaga getting on the scoresheet soon after as Makassar sought to salvage a draw, but Tampines were able hold out to get their Group H campaign off to a winning start.

Than Quang Ninh were reduced to 10 men early on at Bali’s Kapten I Wayan Dipta Stadium but the hosts fell behind to Jamaican Jeremie Lynch’s goal and went into the interval trailing despite their man advantage.

But the Indonesian champions came out firing after the restart with Rahmat Syamsuddin equalising almost immediately, before Platje netted a fine volley and a superb curling effort into the top corner either side of an Ilija Spasojevic penalty to complete a resounding win.

A second-half penalty converted by Abdulaziz Al Muqbali gave Oman side Dhofar the three points at the Salalah Stadium.