Victor Karpenko gave the hosts the lead in the 27th minute before Ruslan Melziddinov put Bunyodkor well on the way to victory with a goal just before the hour.

Zohid Abdullaev halved the deficit for Metallurg with six minutes remaining but it was too late to deny the hosts.

With just one game of the season remaining Bunyodkor have 64 points and cannot be caught by second-placed Pakhtakor, who trail their city rivals by eight points after losing 2-1 at Dynamo FC.

Sanat Shikhov had put Pakhtakor ahead with a goal after 33 minutes but Dynamo responded with Sirojiddin Sayfiev equalising three minutes before the break and Erkin Boydullaev grabbing the winner on the hour.

Nasaf cemented third place with a 2-0 win over Locomotive thanks to second-half goals by Kamoliddin Murzoev and Sergey Krot.

Aleksander Brdanin rescued a 1-1 draw for Mash'al at Andijan, who had taken the lead through Karim Izrailov's 72nd-minute strike.

In other games, Neftchi won 1-0 at Olmaliq courtesy of Sardor Mirzayev's late goal while Navbakhor eased to a 4-1 win over Khorezm.

Rustam Azamov put Khorezm ahead after five minutes but Mukhtar Fozilov equalised 15 minutes later before goals from Timur Ayzatullov, Gayrat Juraev and Rakhmatillo Berdymuradov sealed victory for Navbakhor.

Finally, Qyzylqum beat Shurtan 3-1 with all four goals coming in the second half. Sherali Juraev, Olim Novkarov and Leonid Koshelev got the goals for Qyzylqum with Yaroslav Krusheltisky scoring for Shurtan.