Pahang Rangers 7-1 USM FC

Pahang Rangers kept pace at the top of the table with a 7-1 win over a battling USM, Brazilian winger Rodriguinho helping himself to a hat-trick on a comfortable evening for Eloy Alonso's side.

Pahang made the brighter start and took the lead inside seven minutes, Rodriguinho getting on the end of a flowing move to make it 1-0.

USM, still searching for their first points of the season, refused to fold and levelled on fifteen minutes when Ahmad Muazzim finished well to make it 1-1.

The parity did not last. Rodriguinho restored Pahang's lead on nineteen minutes and the same man completed his hat-trick just before the half-hour to make it 3-1, putting his side in control at the break.

Felipe De Souza, among the league's leading scorers, took over after the interval. The Brazilian struck twice in quick succession, on twenty-five and twenty-eight minutes, to ease Pahang clear at 5-1.

There was still time for the local players to get among the goals. Muhamad Razin made it six with seven minutes to go, and Muhammad Amirul rounded off the scoring shortly after to seal a 7-1 win.

Pahang stay hard on the heels of Selangor at the summit, while USM, still without a win, again showed enough in patches to suggest better days lie ahead.