Circuit 5 Recap: JDT Respond in Ruthless Fashion

Having suffered their only defeat of the season two circuits earlier, Johor Darul Ta'zim used Circuit 5 to make the clearest possible statement about the gap they still held over the rest of the division. A 17-0 win over Wipers, built on a hat-trick from Mohamad Awalludin and further goals shared across the squad, was followed a day later by a 5-2 win over USM, Mahadir Harahap among the scorers in both matches as he continued to establish himself as one of the form players in the league.

Selangor matched that ruthlessness in their own fixtures, beating KL City 7-2 with Evandro Borges scoring twice before putting nine past Wipers without reply on the second matchday, Syahir Iqbal collecting his fourth Player of the Match award of the season in the process. Pahang Rangers, still absorbing their first defeat of the campaign, responded with a 6-1 win over ATM, Felipe De Souza scoring a hat-trick of his own.

KL City's response to their heavy defeat by Selangor was instructive of a pattern that would recur throughout their season: a bounce-back win, 7-2 over PFA Odin Sarawak, built on goals from Dinesh Kumar and Muhammad Dodie, the latter collecting Player of the Match honours. ATM and Terengganu produced one of the circuit's more competitive matches, Terengganu winning 5-3 courtesy of a brace from Alif Mat Amin, while PFA Odin Sarawak's narrow 4-3 defeat to USM, Eikmal Daniel scoring twice including a late penalty, offered a rare sign of competitiveness from a side otherwise toiling near the bottom of the table.

By the end of Circuit 5, ten matchdays into the season, the gap between the top three and the rest of the division had become one of the clearest storylines of the campaign, even as several of the sides below them continued to produce results capable of troubling one another.