Kuruvchi, who will take on league champions Pakhtakor in the Uzbekistan Cup final on Sunday, needed to avoid defeat to guarantee a second-place finish and by half-time they had raced to a 3-1 lead. Yorkin Nazarov opened the scoring in the 12th minute before Viktor Karpenko doubled Kuruvchi’s advantage just before the half-hour mark.

Ilhom Hamdamov pulled one back for Vobkent two minutes from the interval only for Ilhom Mumindjanov to restore the two-goal cushion in the stroke of half-time.

Patrick Agbo made it 4-1 on the hour mark and the Nigerian got his second and Kuruvchi’s sixth right on full-time after Alexander Hvostunov had fired home number five from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute.

Goals in the 31st and 70th minutes from Uzbekistan international Alexander Geynrikh saw champions Pakhtakor defeat relegated Metallurg and round off the season unbeaten while third-placed Mash’al finished their campaign with a 1-0 away win over Navbakhor.

In other final round matches, 2001 Uzbekistan champions Neftchi went down to Zafar Holmuradov’s 82nd minute strike in their away clash with Nasaf while Locomotive ensured they would avoid relegation if Metallurg achieved the unthinkable and defeated Pakhtakor by drawing 1-1 with Tupalang.

Samarqand Dynamo and Bukhoro both enjoyed high-scoring victories in their last game of the season, defeating Qyzylqum (6-1) and Tractor (5-3) respectively but it was a tighter affair in Guzar as hosts Shurtan came from a goal down to defeat Andijan 2-1.

Meanwhile, relegated sides Vobkent and Metallurg will be replaced in next season’s Uzbekistan league by second division champions Sogdiana and runners-up UzDongJu.