KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 (Reuters) - Maksim Shatskikh made a triumphant return from suspension to spark Uzbekistan to a 5-0 drubbing of hosts Malaysia in Asian Cup Group C on Saturday.

Captain Shatskikh, suspended for Uzbekistan's 2-1 loss to

Iran, scored twice as his side revived their hopes of reaching

the quarter-finals.

Tournament co-hosts Malaysia face almost certain

elimination following their opening 5-1 defeat by China.

Striker Shatskikh, who plays for Dynamo Kiev, opened the

scoring in the 10th minute, Timur Kapadze scored a classy goal

on 20 minutes and Ulugbek Bakaev stroked home a penalty in

first-half stoppage time to give Uzbekistan a 3-0 lead.

Substitute Aziz Ibragimov added a fourth after 85 minutes

and Shatskikh struck four minutes later to give the Uzbeks

three points from two matches, level with China and Iran who

meet on Sunday.

Despite being named man of the match, Shatskikh was unhappy

with his performance.

'I'm not into assessing my own play, I leave that up to the

coaches,' he told a news conference. 'But I what I can say that

I did not do enough today. It was difficult to play in this hot

climate but we won because we were able to take our chances.'

Shatskikh added much-needed firepower to the forward line

and became the first player from his team to score a goal in

the competition. Against Iran, they scored via an own-goal from

defender Rahman Rezaei.

Server Djeparov's 10th-minute free kick from the right

bounced past the Malaysian defence and Shatskikh was free at

the far post to score with an easy header.

Malaysia, vilified for their poor performance against

China, appeared more determined against the Uzbeks.

However, any hopes of a comeback were dashed by Kapadze's

brilliance. The Pakhtakor midfielder bamboozled centre-back

Khaironnisam Hussain before ghosting through two more defenders

to slot the ball past goalkeeper Azizon Kadir.

Azizon gave away the third goal seconds before halftime

when he brought down Bakaev, who converted the resultant

penalty.

Ibragimov made it 4-0 five minutes from the end when he

turned in Pavel Solomin's cross and Shatskikh completed the

rout by hitting the target from close range after a pass from

Djeparov.