Liang Shiming notched a brace and further goals from Cong Lin, Rubinho and Zeng Liang had threatened a rout in the first half but a strike on the stroke of half-time from Oleg Khalmukhamedov and another from Artur Yusunov in the second period forced Shenzhen to sweat, before Rubinho scored his second of the night from distance and sealed the three points.

The hard-fought win for Shenzhen followed up Monday’s 3-0 victory over Vic Vipers and with 2011 champions Nagoya themselves earlier beating the Australians 6-0 to maintain their own 100% record, the pair will now meet on Wednesday with top spot in Group A at stake after completing the qualification picture with a game to spare.

"It was a magnificent game, a superb game – I’m delighted by the performance. It was our first aim to reach the semi-finals and thereby get a minimum of fourth place, and we’ve achieved that, so I’m very satisfied," said Shenzhen coach Jose Amarante, who was Nagoya head coach when the Japanese side lifted the title in 2011.

"In particular in the first half it was practically perfect and even in the second half when the Tashkent side pushed us hard we defended tremendously and put on a very good display."

"Tomorrow is a difficult game versus Nagoya, an excellent team, but we will play to enjoy it now that the pressure is off."

And although Lokomotiv had begun the tie on the front foot, it was the home side who took the lead on six minutes as Cong ghosted into the penalty area to prod in Lu Yue’s free-kick.

Two minutes later Shenzhen doubled the lead with Lu once again the provider, this time playing in Liang who slammed the ball past Oleg Tukmakov. Momentum in the game had by now convincingly switched in favour of the Chinese side and as the half neared the midway mark they went three goals up as Takashi Hatakeyama’s freekick was rolled short to Rubinho and the Brazilian whipped a low shot into the bottom right-hand corner.

Liang had his brace less than three minutes later as he met He Yihui’s chipped cross from the right with a diving header past the exposed Tukmakov.

The goals didn’t stop coming for Shenzhen, though, and Zeng expertly controlled Hatakeyama’s long ball from the back before drilling a low shot across the Lokomotiv goalkeeper and into the far corner with five minutes of the half remaining.

Lokomotiv did pull one back on the stroke of halftime, however, as Khalmukhamedov met a corner with a firm first-time shot that snuck past Wei Sheng to put the score at 5-1 at the interval. In an attempt to reduce the four-goal deficit, Lokomotiv made extensive use of the power play rules following the re-start with outfield player Shuhrat Tojiboev replacing goalkeeper Tukmakov on each attack for the Uzbek side.

And eventually the ploy bore fruit just before the midway point as Farkhod Abdumavlyanov played in Yusunov to bury the ball from close range and reduce Shenzen’s lead to three goals.

In an exciting twist to the tie, Shenzhen coach Amarante responded to Lokomotiv’s goal by also using the power play strategy which led to both teams effectively playing with five outfield players during each offensive.

The high-risk tactics were always likely to be punished, however, and it was the Uzbek club who were caught out with two minutes of play remaining. A Lokomotiv attack broke down with the ball landing at the feet of Rubinho deep inside his own half, and the Brazilian lofted a long range effort that floated into the unguarded net for the game’s eighth and final goal.

"The Shenzhen coach was very smart, he countered everything we threw at them," said Lokomotiv coach Akhadjon Yusupov.

"They took their chances very well, particularly in the first half, and held us at bay for most of the match.

"Our next opponent Vic Vipers are physically very good, so my players will set themselves accordingly and have a good rest tonight ahead of the game."