Action from the Dordoi-Khemara match. Photo by: AFC/Stanley Chou

LAHORE: Reigning champions Kyrgyzstan’s Dordoi-Dynamo recorded a convincing 4-0 victory over Cambodia’s Khemara club in their opening Group B game in the third edition of the AFC President’s Cup here at the Punjab Stadium on Friday.

Dordoi-Dynamo were on song since the start while Khemara were a trifle subdued and tentative. Their defensive strategy saw them concede a bunch of goals in the first half. Though Khemara made amends after the break, the horses had already bolted by then.

Dordoi-Dynamo opened the scoring through Azmat Ishenbaev's neat shot over Khemara goalkeeper Chanphanin Kong in the 14th minute. Forward David Tetteh would have made it 2-0 in the 22nd minute had he not been thwarted by Kong under the bar. But then three goals in a highly productive six minute spell, with Andrey Krasnov finding the net twice and Ishenbaev too notching his second, put Dordoi-Dynamo in an overwhelmingly strong position.

This despite Dynamo missing out on a penalty kick – Ishenbaev scored only for the goal to be disallowed while the retake was brilliantly stopped by Kong.

Then came the three-goal spree.

Krasnov's first conversion was into the right corner in the 34th minute and his second threading his way in from the middle came in the 40th minute. In between Ishenbaev, in the 36th minute got a delectable pass from the left, and positioned right in front of the goal he made no mistake with the conversion. The second half saw Khemara come out of the defensive mould and the exchanges were more or less even – and slightly rougher with the referee forced to flash the yellow card with gay abandon.

The second half remained goalless but it brought scant cheer for Khemara; for them the game had already been lost in the first half.

In his post-match comments, Khemara coach Kong Peu said his players got ruffled. "We resorted to defensive tactics in the second half as we did not want to concede more goals. Our aim was to concentrate on the next games", said Peu.

Peu's Kyrgyz counterpart Boris Podkorytov was happy with the result. "The Khemara defence foiled our attacks in the second half, while our players lost concentration", said Podkorytov.