The first half was barren before striker Shavkat Salomov changed the tempo in the second half with his opener in the 52nd minute followed by the second goal by Slovakian midfielder Jan Kozak after 65 minutes, after which the remaining period saw two yellow cards issued against Pakhtakor and one against Bunyodkor.
The four-time Uzbek champions are now with 27 points from 12 matches, five points above Nasaf who crashed out of the ACL having finished at the bottom of Group A in May.
Nasaf surprisingly lost to Bukhara with the score 1-0. Vahid Shadiev was on target for Bukhara side. Almalyk suffered another surprising defeat in the hand of Dynamo.
Locomotive Tashkent lost to Kyzylkum with the score. With the similar scorline, Navbakhor beat Andijan, while Shortan outplayed Mash’al. Metallurg and Neftchi shared spoils in a 1-1 draw.