Johor Darul Ta'zim wrapped up the first half of the Malaysia Super League (MSL) campaign at the top of the table after they tore Pahang apart 6-0 at the Darul Makmur Stadium on Saturday for their second win in three days over the Elephants.
The newly crowned FA Cup champions, who had beaten Pahang 3-0 on Wednesday, made five changes to their lineup, but Mario Gomez retained his lethal Argentine strike duo of Juan Martin Lucero and Jorge Pereyra Diaz.
It took Lucero just six minutes to register his ninth league goal of the season, before the striker provided for Diaz to double the Southern Tigers advantage after 30 minutes played.
Lucero was again involved in the thick of things, paving the way for defender Marcos Antonio to slot home the visitors third goal in the 34th minute to effectively kill off the game.
Pahang's misery was compounded when their five-goal Slovenian forward Dalibor Volas went off injured just before the break as the home team looked to minimise the annihilation for the next 45 minutes.
But JDT had other ideas, and duly added a fourth goal through the influential Lucero, who finished with a rasping drive after a slick move involving Diaz and Amri Yahyah three minutes after the restart.
The home side's only attacking threat came through D.Saarvindran, whose mazy runs troubled the JDT backline at times.
Apart from that, JDT were cruising through proceedings and Diaz capped off that performance with the goal of the night in the 54th minute.
The 25-year-old, received the ball in the middle of the park before dazzling his way past three Pahang players to lift an exquisite shot past Nasril Nourdin for JDT's fifth.
Diaz then guided home Lucero's header from close range for his hat trick in the 74th minute, becoming the second player to take home the match ball in the MSL this season after Volas, who netted a treble against Perak last month.
Other matches saw Selangor finally find their shooting range to thump Kelantan 5-2 at the Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium, while Francis Forkey Doe's late strike salvaged Felda United a point against bottom side Penang.
Terengganu overcame sister club T-Team 2-1 while Sarawak ran out 3-0 winners against Perak. PDRM and Kedah shared the spoils after a 1-1 draw.
The MSL takes a five-week break ahead of the of the international schedule where Ong Kim Swee's Harimau Malaysia will play Timor Leste in an Asian Cup qualifying tie on June 2 and 6.