Needing just a draw to top the three-team playoffs in the AFC Asian Qualifiers for the 2012 London Games and set up a decisive showdown with Senegal, the Uzbeks took the game to Oman and attacked from the onset of the match at the My Dinh Stadium, dominating the opening quarter-of-an-hour.

But after Hussain Al Hadhri opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 16th minute the Uzbeks lost their cohesion and conceded a second in first-half stoppage-time as Raed Ibrahim Saleh scored what transpired to be the final goal of the game.

The Uzbeks were given the numerical advantage for the last 16 minutes after Eid Al Farsi was red carded for a dangerous challenge on defender Sherzod Azamov but even with the extra man they struggled to breakdown a resilient Oman backline and also looked susceptible on the counterattack.

"We made many mistakes and Oman played much better than Uzbekistan," a rueful Abramov said at the post-match press conference

"There were so many mistakes. It was mistake, mistake, mistake."

The 49-year-old made a raft of changes to the side that defeated Syria just 48 hours earlier with only five players that started Tuesday's 2-1 victory keeping their place in the starting 11.

Amongst the players coming in were skipper Fozil Muzaev, who was returning from suspension and goalkeeper Viktor Mochalov replacing Akbar Turaev, while Oleg Zoteev, scorer of the winner against Syria, also started.

Responding to a question as to whether or not these changes might have had a hand in the defeat Abramov replied it was a necessity brought about by the short recovery time after the Syria match and also hinted that the players may not have been in the right frame of mind in Hanoi after conceding a two-goal lead against the UAE to miss out on direct entry to the London Olympics.

"We played two days before so it is normal that I would change the team," he said.

"Before the penalty we had so many chances. Today was very bad day.

"But this didn't come from today, I think this comes from Tashkent and the Emirates game as there are players that still can't get it out of their heads."