Anvar Berdiyev scored four times - including the eventual winning goal from the penalty spot deep into stoppage time - as Neftchi eventually overcame a spirited South China side.

While delighted his men managed to hit the back of the net five times, Sarkisyan laid into his side for their sloppy defending and accused them of taking the visitors too lightly.

"On the one hand, I am glad that we have managed to score five goals against serious opponents," he said.

"At the same time, we had no right to concede four goals. It happened because of weaknesses in defence. To score five goals, and concede four - I do not understand it.

"Who said Hong Kong teams can’t play football? I tried to convince the players that every opponent should be respected and each of them underestimated the visitors equally.

"We beat sides from Syria, Lebanon and Bahrain and probably because of those victories our players did not see South China as a threat. We paid for that with the result and (keeper) Yuriy Tsoy managed to keep us in the game at times.

"We did the same in the very first match in the AFC Cup against Al Ahed, when we should’ve been the better team but lost 5-1 because of errors in defence."

Sarkisyan did stress that a number of regulars were missing at the back but vowed to improve his side’s defending for the return leg in Hong Kong.

"Central defender Maxim Usmanov has been out almost six months due to injury, while Azamat Juramuradov is also missing and Islom Tuhtahujaev has gone to the U-20 World Cup," he added.

"However, in the next two weeks we will work hard in training to improve the interaction of defenders.

"I hope that we can reach the semi-final and then our fans can see another match like this but it will be difficult to achieve the necessary result."

South China coach Kim Pan-gon, meanwhile, felt his side were ultimately robbed but took plenty of encouragement from the performance.

"We deserved at least a draw in this match," he said.

"Now we will play to win in the return. Today has shown us that Neftchi have weak spots in defence and we will try to exploit their errors.

"We prepared carefully for this match and travelling to Ferghana took us two days. It presented certain difficulties but in spite of everything, we tried to show good football and I think our team has a chance to win the tie."