A second half brace from Taisir Al Jassam steered Saudi Arabia to a 4-0 drubbing of Gulf neighbours Bahrain at the Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium in Palembang on Wednesday and a place in the quarter-finals of this year’s AFC Asian Cup.

The three-time Asian Cup champions built on a 2-0 lead by the end of the first half thanks to goals from Ahmed Al Mousa and Abdulrahman Al Qahtani before Al Jassam scored two goals in the 68th and 80th minutes as Saudi Arabia finished at the top of Group D standings.

Both coaches had only one change in their starting line-ups as Saudi Arabia coach Helio Dos Anjos introduced Taisir Al Jassam as a replacement for the suspended Khaled Aziz while the Czech coach of Bahrain Milan Macala replaced Mohammed Hubail by team skipper Talal Yusuf.

Bahrain had a powerful start to the match as they have controlled the early proceedings and they could have opened the scoring on seven minutes when Salman Isa sent Ismail Abdullatif clear but the 20-year-old striker could only shoot in the side netting of the Saudi goal.

Saudi Arabia started to get into the game gradually and their first chance fell for striker Malek Maaz in the 15th minute when he went into the area before shooting a powerful ball from the left flank but Bahrain goalkeeper Abdulrahman Abdulkarim blocked the ball.

However, the Saudis scored the opening goal three minutes later when a long ball edged Bahrain defender Abdullah Al Marzouqi who slipped inside the area and Saudi Arabia midfielder Al Mousa edged the Bahrain goalkeeper and scored in the empty goal on the left low corner.

Bahrain recovered from the goal as they controlled the midfield and they could have levelled in the 36th minute when Sayed Mohammed Adnan sent a cross to Isa who sent a curled ball on the far corner but Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Yasser Al Musailem cleared the ball for a corner.

One minute later, Saudi Arabia midfielder Abdulrahman Al Qahtani saw his powerful shot from the edge the area saved by Bahrain goalkeeper Abdulrahman Abdulkarim.

The last minutes of the first half saw quick play from both sides and Bahrain nearly equalised two minutes before the break when Sayed Mahmoud Jalal tested the Saudi goalkeeper with a long drive while Maaz nearly doubled Saudi Arabia advantage with a long chip which went wide after a quick counter attack in the first minute of stoppage time.

The Saudi’s were not to be denied a 2-0 lead though after another quick play which saw Yasser Al Qahtani feeding Maaz on the left flank before sending a low cross to Abdulrahman Al Qahtani who tapped the ball in the empty net in the last seconds of the first period.

Bahrain started the second half brightly and they could have pulled a goal back eight minutes after the restart when Isa sent a cross from the right flank directly towards the goal and Saudi goalkeeper Al Musailem deflected the shot into the right upright before the ball was cleared by Saudi Arabia defenders.

The Saudis killed the game off in the 68th minute when they made it 3-0 as Maaz centred the ball to Taisir Al Jassam who fired a 30-yard drive which sailed into the top right corner of Abdulkarim’s goal.

And Al Jassam scored his second goal on the night after a nice piece of play which started from Maaz to second half substitute Omar Al Ghamdi who sent the ball from the left flank to Al Jassam who made no mistake with 10 minutes remaining.

Three minutes before the end, Al Jassam nearly completed his hat-trick with a powerful drive from inside the area but the ball was cleared from the goal line by Sayed Mohammed Adnan.