Almaty's Kairat defeated Shymkent's Ordabasy 2-1 at home in the 19th round of the Kazakhstan Premier League, infohub.kz reports.
Spanish forward Mark Gual opened the scoring for Kairat in the 14th minute, assisted by Portuguese defender Luís Carlos Mata. Finnish striker Oiva Jukkola doubled the lead in the 87th minute. Ordabasy pulled one back through Norwegian forward Bjorn Johnsen in the 93rd minute but could not find an equalizer.
The victory took Kairat to 45 points and top spot, overtaking Ordabasy (43 points), who have played one game fewer. Both sides have recorded 13 wins this season.