Smolyachenko, who was making just his second appearance of the tournament, opened the scoring inside the first minute at Fergana Stadium before adding a second for the home side five minutes into the second half.

And with 13 minutes remaining Anvar Berdiev’s third goal of the campaign sealed Neftchi’s third win in Group D before Salgaocar’s Ahmed Ishfaq was sent-off in stoppage time.

"Despite injuries to several players I am happy that we put up a good show with whatever was available with to us,” said Neftchi coach Yuri Sarkisan.

“We were not under any pressure as we had already qualified and we played for the spectators today. Although Salgaocar played well, I felt their defence was weak.”

Despite already having secured their runner-up spot in Group D behind Jordan’s Al Wehdat before kick-off, Neftchi made the breakthrough inside the first minute as Smolyachenko marked his first start of the campaign in style with a smart run and finish as Salgaocar were made to pay for conceding possession in midfield.

Smolyachenko, who made his first appearance of the tournament as a second half substitute in the 3-1 defeat by Al Wehdat last month, doubled Neftchi’s lead five minutes into the second half as the striker bounced to turn home following an error from Salgaocar’s Nicolau Colaco.

And after netting in the wins over Al Wehdat and Al Arouba at the start of the campaign, Berdiev sealed the win in the 77th minute with Neftchi’s 11th goal in six games following a swift counterattack from the home side.

Salgaocar, who picked up their first points of the campaign last time out against Al Arouba to send Neftchi through to the last 16, finished the match with 10 men as was sent-off in the fifth minute of added time.

“It was a tough match for us, especially since we have been travelling for the past six days. First it was for our last league match and now for the AFC Cup match,” said Salgaocar coach Karim Bencherifa.

“To add to that, half of my team is injured, and many of my key players like (Lamare) Rocus and Gilbert (Oliveira) did not play today.

“I also want to say that these are not any excuses but these are facts. However, I feel we could have done much better today.”