The visitors gave a much improved performance from their 7-3 loss to the Uzbeks in Singapore on Monday, keeping the home side at bay for much of the evening at the MHSK Stadium.

But the deadlock was finally broken when the ball broke to Geynrikh in a goalmouth scramble and the striker fired past goalkeeper Lionel Lewis to give Uzbekistan their fourth consecutive win in Group Four, sealing their place in the next round.

Despite watching his side ship seven goals earlier in the week, Singapore coach Raddy Avramovic made only two changes to his starting line-up with Isa Halim coming in for the suspended Noh Rahman and skipper Indra Sahdan returning from injury to replace Shahril Ishak.

But the Lions had clearly learned their lesson from that heavy defeat, defending with discipline and giving away little to the home side in the first half.

The first real opportunity for the Uzbeks did not arrive until the 26th minute when Victor Karpenko made space for a shot on the right of the Singapore box and curled in a low shot that went just wide of the far post.

The visitors had few chances of their own but could have stolen the lead in the 36th minute when John Wilkinson’s cross from the right flank was headed down at the far post by Khairul Amri to Aleksandr Duric, who stabbed his effort narrowly wide.

As half-time approached, the Uzbeks had a shout for a penalty when Victor Karpenko’s low cross struck the hand of Precious Emuejeraye.

But they should have taken the lead in stoppage time when Server Djeparov was found completely unmarked by Aleksey Nikolaev’s cutback but ballooned his shot from ten metres.

Uzbekistan turned up the pressure in the second half with Djeparov shooting over again 20 seconds after the restart and Zaynitdin Tadjiyev firing wide in the 53rd minute from inside the six-yard box.

In the 76th minute, skipper Maksim Shatskikh peeled away from his marker but headed Karpenko’s cross wide and two minutes later, Djeparov sent a 25-metre free-kick high and wide.

But the deadlock was finally broken when the ball fell nicely to Geynrikh on the edge of the six-yard box after Djeparov had been tackled by Shi Jiayi. The poacher needed no second invitation as he fired the ball past a helpless Lewis.

Timur Kapadze nearly extended the lead, firing into the side netting in the 85th minute but the Uzbeks very nearly let their lead slip three minutes from time when Duric’s glancing header was stopped by goalkeeper Temur Juraev.