Botir Karaev grabbed the lead for Mashal in the 50th minute before Zafar Kholmurodov doubled his extended his side’s score-line in the 82nd minute, while Abdullah Al-Jumaan scored Hilal’s only goal in the last minute of the match.

Hilal put on a below-par performance as they witnessed the absence of Mohammad Al Deayea, Abdulaziz Khathran, Omar Al Ghamdi, Khaled Aziz, Nawaf Al Temyat, Mohammed Al Shlhoub, Sami Al Jaber, Yasser Al Qahtani and Mohammed Al Anbar, who were away on international duty with Saudi Arabia..

The former Saudi Champions dropped back to third place with a tally of six points in the Group, one point behind Mashal and leaders UAE club Al-Ain.

With this result, Hilal suffered their second straight defeat, both of massive caliber, after losing their Saudi title to rivals Al-Shabab only a few days ago.

Al-Ain have an excellent opportunity to maintain their top-spot position when they face Iraqi club Al-Minaa, who tail the Group standings on Wednesday.