The Uzbek side took the lead through Alisher Haikov in the 37th minute before Iraqi midfielder Salih Sader score the first of his two goals of the night to take the teams into the half time break level.

Neftchi then fell apart in the second half, conceding a second goal to Sader - who struck from the penalty spot - as well as to Mohamad Halawi, Junior Da Silva and Ahmad Zraik.

“It is a heartbreaking defeat and we didn’t expect to have this result today,” he said.

“The problem that we had in the game was the injury of Azamat Juramuradov in the first half and he is one of the best players that we have.”

“The goals that we conceded in the second half came after a disappointing performance from our defenders who didn’t communicate well.

“I hope that we can correct the mistakes that we had tonight and have a better performance in the second game.”

Sarkisyan’s opposite number, Fouad Saad, was understandably delighted with his team’s impressive start to their AFC Cup campaign.

“We deserved the big win today but we still have a long way to go,” he said. “The camp that we had in Syria before the game helped us a lot and it helped the players to go into the game with a good shape.

“We played on the flanks in the second half and we took advantage of this weak side in Neftchi to score four goals in the second half. We still have a long road and these three points will give us a big push to continue winning in the next matches.”

Al Ahed next meet Busaiteen, who travelled to Yemen to defeat Al Tilal 3-1 thanks to two goals from Nigerian striker Robert Akaruye and a third from Basel Sultan.

“We deserved this win because we had a good performance despite Al Tilal had a good performance and they caused a lot of problems for us,” said coach Abdulaziz Ameen.

“Our performance improved in the second half and we managed to score two goals.

“This win is important as it will give us a big responsibility to continue with the same winning performance and have better results in the next matches.”

Al Tilal assistant coach Mahmoud Obaid refused to be too downhearted by the result as his club focuses more on domestic duties.

“We are satisfied with the performance of the team as the result doesn’t reflect the performance in the game,” he said.

“I hope that our team will be able to get back in the next match. Our main target is to help the team in the local league and hopefully the matches of the AFC Cup will help the players to prepare well for the league.”