Tashkent, Uzbekistan: A brace of goals from Brazilian striker Nilmar earned Qatar’s El Jaish a hard-fought 2-1 victory against Uzbekistan champions Bunyodkor in their AFC Champions League Group B fixture on Tuesday. The Qatari side’s marquee close-season signing first inked his name onto the scoresheet on the 33rd minute with a fine solo effort and netted his second at a crucial stage on 65 minutes as two-time semi-finalists Bunyodkor threatened to restore parity. Second half substitute Bakhodir Pardaev did net late on in stoppage time for the home side but it was virtually the last touch of the game as the referee called the game to an end shortly after to grant the unbeaten visitors all three points. Bunyodkor had maintained possession in the opening spell of the game with Ukrainian forward Oleksandr Pyshchur going close after eight minutes with a shot from just inside the penalty area that went narrowly wide. And the Uzbek side thought they had gone ahead on 22 minutes as Sardor Rashidov’s inswinging corner looked to have crept in at the back post, but a combination of defender Ali Al Nuaimi and the woodwork was adjudged to have kept the ball from fully crossing the line. But 11 minutes later a goal was scored as Nilmar latched on to a long ball, beat Serfiy Symonenko for pace, and drilled the ball past both goalkeeper Murotjon Zukhurov and a late sliding challenge from captain Hayrulla Karimov. However, shortly after the restart Carles Coto had a golden chance to level the tie when put through on goal, but El Jaish custodian Ahmed Sofyan was alive to the danger and pulled off a fine diving save to smother the Spaniard’s shot. Bunyodkor coach Mirdjalal Kasimov then threw on strikers Pardaev and Sardor Sabirkhodjaev in an attempt to restore parity, but as the side reshuffled, El Jaish took advantage and doubled their lead just past the hour mark. An innocuous throw-in caught Jovlon Ibrokhimov flat-footed and Nilmar was able to ghost past and into the penalty area before steering a shot across Zukhurov and into the bottom corner. With El Jaish content to control the tempo and possession, the home team struggled to make any headway in the scoreline but in stoppage time a corner from Rashidov was met by the head of Pardaev to halve the deficit. However, that was to prove to be the final action of the game as shortly after the match restarted, referee Masaaki Toma blew the final whistle to bring proceedings to a close.