In the club’s first continental appearance since the 2011 AFC President’s Cup, Neftchi secured victory on the day thanks to Oleksandr Ihnatenko’s goal just after half time, putting the 2019 Kyrgyzstan Cup winners within 90 minutes of the group stage.

Both sides had to battle the elements at Jalal-Abad’s Kurmanbek Stadium, where the pitch had been buried under snow on the eve of the match, but Zakirov was delighted that his charges had been able achieve a positive result.

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.

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

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.

The AFC Cup defending champions found themselves behind after only 15 minutes as Fayeq Mahamid gave the visitors the lead but Tarek El Ali and Ahmed Zreik scored in the second half to give Al Ahed their first win of the year.