Johor Darul Ta’zim continued their perfect start to the 2023 Liga Super Malaysia season by winning their eighth consecutive game, smashing Kedah Darul Aman to bits with a 6-0 win at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium on Sunday night.
JDT, who had won all of their opening seven games to the season, were absolutely no match for a Kedah side who were hovering around the top half of the Liga Super table in its opening rounds.
Fernando Forestieri gave JDT the lead in the 23rd minute with a well-timed header after a Feroz Baharudin corner, which proved to be the only goal in a first half filled with chances from the Southern Tigers.
The second half saw an utterly dominant display from the hosts that absolutely left no trace from the away side at all in the aftermath.
Feroz turned from provider to scorer in the 48th minute, taking advantage of a Matthew Davies cross to double JDT’s lead.
Two minutes later Oscar Arribas managed to take advantage of some slack Kedah defending, with the Filipino landing a powerful shot into Kalamullah Al-Hafiz’s goal to make it 3-0 for the hosts.
And three minutes after Arribas’ goal, JDT went 4-0 up after Bergson had accurately landed his penalty, which was given after Akmal Zahir had fouled the Brazilian in the area.
Despite leading their guest by four goals, JDT did not relent in their assault and in the 77th minute the Southern Tigers got their fifth – Arif Aiman latching onto a Syahmi Safari pass before outsmarting Kalamullah with his finish.
Leandro Velazquez completed the one-sided affair in the 86th minute, rifling home JDT’s sixth of the night with a powerful shot.
The win cemented JDT’s position in the Liga Super summit with a record that would surely intimidate even the strongest of men – eight games, eight wins, 36 goals scored and only one conceded.
Kedah, on the other hand, are third in the Liga Super table, eight points behind JDT with the mauling at Iskandar Puteri being only the Sang Kenari‘s second defeat of the season so far.