Kuruvchi, who advanced to the last eight of this year’s Champions League at the expense of two-time ACL winners Al Ittihad, the Saudi giants’ namesake from Aleppo, and last year’s runners-up Sepahan, went into the round 11 domestic clash having won all their previous ten matches to sit four points clear of defending champions Pakhtakor.

But their failure to find the net in Monday’s fixture against the 2002 Asian Club Championship semi-finalists meant that Kuruvchi dropped points for the first time in the 2008 Uzbek League season.

Midjalol Kasimov’s side remain at the top of the table, two points clear of Pakhtakor who record their ninth win of the campaign as penalties from Odyl Ahmedov and Zaynitdin Tadjiyev saw them defeat AGMK 2-0.