Malaysia, who won the first two matches, had to wait until the 12th minute to open the scoring via Shahmie Irfan Suhaimi’s penalty corner.

Najib Abu Hassan’s field goal put Malaysia 2-0 up five minutes later and they then extended their lead when Shahmie scored a field goal in the 20th minute.

Head coach Amin Rahim’s men then added another field goal ten minutes later, this time through Haris Iskandar Osman, before Shahmie wrapped up a hattrick and an emphatic victory for the national team with another field goal in the 49th minute.

The victory over Thailand saw Amin’s charges chalk up their third consecutive victory to lead the table with nine points ahead of the last round robin match against Indonesia tomorrow.

Indonesia also confirmed their place in the final after three games and are now in second position with seven points, followed by Thailand (three points), Singapore (one point) and bottom side Cambodia (0 points).

The top two teams qualify for the final to determine the champions.

Amin said he was happy with the performance shown by his team, but hopes the players can maintain their consistency until the final.

“We performed as expected by winning all the matches and qualifying for the final. The team did what was required in the first three matches, and now there are two more matches before the final. We need to keep focused on the last two matches against Indonesia.

“For me the most important thing is consistency, if the team is tactically consistent in every match I think we will do well,” he said.

Malaysia are a hockey powerhouse at the SEA Games, claiming a record 16 gold medals since the 1971 edition in Kuala Lumpur.