HA NOI (VNS)— A dominant Ha Noi T&T yesterday trounced Kien Giang 5-0 in their V-League clash at the Ha Noi Stadium.

Kayode Samson opened the scoring from a penalty in the 24th minute, before a second-half hattrick from Gonzalo Marronkle and a goal from Nguyen Ngoc Duy completed the rout.

T&T came into the game looking to make amends after suffering two straight losses.

The absence of playmaker Cristiano due to injury caused a selection headache for coach Phan Thanh Hung.

To compensate, he set out his team to play quickly on the counter-attack, a strategy which quickly paid dividends.

Kien Giang tried to utilise the height of their forward Abdullahi Suleiman, but they were blunt in attack and barely threatened T&T's goal.

Marronkle's hattrick ensured that he moved to the top of the league scoring charts with nine goals in nine games.

The result sees T&T jump up to fourth position while Kien Giang returned to the foot of the table.

Next week, T&T will travel to Lach Tray Stadium to play Hai Phong.

Kien Giang will face Becamex Binh Duong.

In yesterday's other fixture, Binh Duong secured a 2-1 away victory at Dong Nai.

The losers will next meet Song Lam Nghe An.

On Saturday, defending champion Song Lam Nghe An suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat to Thanh Hoa.

Their coach Nguyen Huu Thang expressed his frustration at his side's second defeat in a row.

"It was a worthy victory for Thanh Hoa and our worst performance since the beginning of the season," he said.

"All 11 players lost focus, leading to another defeat."

Although leaders Song Lam Nghe An still top the league with 19 points, their slip up allowed second-place Hoang Anh Gia Lai to narrow the gap to three points, with a game in hand. — VNS