Abu Dhabi: The exacting standards of coach Henk ten Cate augur well for a concerted Arabian Gulf League title challenge for Al Jazira, who thrashed Bani Yas 5-0 at home on Thursday night.

For despite the rout, which took his side temporarily top of the table, Ten Cate found fault with his side’s performance, although he lauded the “wonderful goals” they scored.

These came courtesy of Ali Mabkhout’s second hat-trick inside a week and Ailton Ailmeida’s brace on his debut after joining on loan from Al Hilal last week.

Ten Cate later blasted his men for their “sluggish” start and not being “compact enough”, failures which he felt would have been punished by leading AGL sides such as Al Ahli, Al Ain and Al Shabab.

But he added: “I really enjoyed the goals scored in the second half.”

The Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium mauling was a chastening debut for Bani Yas’s new coach Joao Gomes, who replaced the sacked Pablo Repetto last weekend.

Gomes later admitted he had “a lot of work to do on the training ground to help my side improve and eliminate mistakes”.

But he conceded: “It is difficult to get my ideas across to the players in such a short space of time.”

There was little else he could say after such an abject, error-ridden performance by the Sky Blues, who are bottom of the AGL on only a point.

The visitors were no match for the rampant Pride of Abu Dhabi, who maintained their unbeaten start to the season with their fourth win out of five matches.

In addition to Ailton, Jazira also handed a debut to their other new signing of last week, the Brazilian centre-back Joao Carlos, who joined from Belgian side Lokeren.

But he could not have wished for a more comfortable start to life in the UAE, as Bani Yas rarely threatened the hosts’ defence.

In contrast, Mabkhout looked dangerous throughout and atoned for some uncharacteristic early misses with a two-goal salvo in the 29th and 37th minutes.

First he latched on to Fellipe Bastos’s botched, headed clearance to slot home and added a second from the penalty spot after Darwish Mohammad upended Khalfan Mubarak with a clumsy challenge.

He completed his hat-trick four minutes before full time with a precise header, to propel him to the top of the AGL scoring charts with eight goals.

And his excellence was rivalled by the club’s new Brazilian striker Ailton, the 32-year-old lashing in two superb, long-range efforts in the 47th and 56th minutes.