Al Jaish needed to win by two clear goals to snatch the final qualification place from Nasaf, and opened the scoring through Maher Al Said 10 minutes before the break.

But even after substitute Siarhei Krot was needlessly sent-off with 14 minutes remaining, Artyom Filiposyan headed home in the last minute to ensure Nasaf finished second behind Kuwait’s Kazma.

"I said previously that the game will be very hard and tough for us," said Kumykov.

"This was what happened as the game was very hard especially for our team who struggled in the game.

"We closed our own area in the first half but despite doing so, we conceded a goal and this affected us. However, Al Jaish were really fortunate to take the lead this way as it came from a quick counterattack.

"In the second half we were the better side especially in the first part. We were determined to score and avoid defeat and we were lucky to score especially because we were playing with 10-men.

"Al Jaish are an organised side and they are a strong team. They could have qualified to the next round had they scored another goal from any of their several chances in the game."

Al Jaish, meanwhile, paid the price for a heavy schedule at home and on the continental stage as Ayoub Odisho’s side failed to find the second goal which would secured a place in the knockout stage.

"Our team have a lot of pressure as we have a heavy match schedule. This was our eighth match in three weeks and the pressure of the local league also affected our players,” he said.

"Fatigue affected the concentration of the players as they were lost in the game and they couldn’t add a second goal which could have sent us to the knockout stage of the competition.

"We created more than five clear chances to score but we were not lucky as we couldn’t score from these chances.

“We were also late in making substitutions especially after Nasaf played with 10-men. We didn’t make a quick replacement because we were waiting to score the second goal and then we wanted to hold on to our lead in the game but things didn’t go our way."