Abdulrahman, who also scored the winning goal in the previous meeting between the two sides in Tashkent from a powerful free kick, repeated the feat once again as he scored the only goal on the night after 74 minutes.

Bahrain finish third in Group A and will tackle the third-placed side from Group B in September’s play-off with the winner of that game facing New Zealand for a place in South Africa next year.

Bahrain were the better side in the early stages of the game and had two chances in the first 15 minutes but striker Ismaeel Abdulatif twice fired wide.

Ismaeel first had a chance after 12 minutes when he received a pass from the defence and broke into the area but sent his shot wide of the left upright.

The Bahraini striker then found himself with just Ignatiy Neserov to beat soon after but the goalkeeper did well to deny the chance.

The hosts continued to press and should have taken the lead after 22 minutes when Abdulla Omar’s cross found Mohamed Hubail but Nesterov was in the right place to make the crucial save.

Uzbekistan had struggled to create any clear chances in the early stages and had to wait until the 37th minute to have their first shot on target but Victor Karpenko’s drive was saved by Bahrain goalkeeper Sayed Mohamed.

The visitors made a brighter start to the second-half, however, and came close just five minutes after the restart when substitute Jasur Hasanov struck an effort from inside the box and though the ball had Bahrain goalkeeper Sayed Mohamed beaten, defender Sayed Adnan stretched out his leg to clear off the line.

Bahrain soaked up that early pressure and began to regain control of the game and deservedly opened the scoring after 74 minutes when Abdulrahman struck a powerful free kick from distance that sailed past Nesterov and into the top right corner of the net to send the home fans into raptures.

That joy was dampened slightly four minutes later when defender Abdulla Marzooq was sent off after an altercation with Sahob Juraev but the hosts defended well in the remaining minutes to ensure the victory.