England's last match of an exhausting tour took them to Kuala Lumpar where over 41,000 people sweltered in 100 per cent humidity in the Merdeka Stadium. The game was another personal triumph for Gary Lineker, who, having missed the game in Wellington because of club tour committments, returned to the side to score all four goals in a wonderful display in the art of finishing.

The excitement began after only 42 seconds. Geoff Thomas' forward pass released Lineker on the left of goal and a rasping shot left the home goalkeeper, Hassan, helpless. It was a marvellous start for England and one of the best of Lineker's England goals. The visitors pushed forward relentlessly from then on and, midway through the half, a Stuart Pearce corner from the right was flicked on by Mark Wright and Lineker was at the far post to knock the ball into the net. On the half hour the supreme England striker collected his fifth international hat-trick with a lovely glancing header at the near post after a delicate chip by David Platt.

This burst of goalscoring left Malaysia shell-shocked, but they kept battling away and [after] half-time Matlan took advantage of some sloppy play by England to score and send the crowd wild with delight. Chris Woods was furious with his defence particularly as it was the first goal he had conceded on the tour, thus ruining his proud record.

However, this minor blot did not affect England's superiority and they coasted through the second half. On 70 minutes another lovely run from John Salako, the real hit of the tour, ended with a cross from the right which was met with a simple header from that man Lineker again. It was another clinical piece of finishing and a marvellous milestone for the Spurs player. It was his 45th goal for England, thus eclipsing Jimmy Greaves to slip into second place in the all-time list of goalscorers. Only Bobby Charlton, with 49 goals, now lay ahead of Lineker.

The only other black mark on an otherwise good day for England came when Matlan, who was already a hero for scoring one goal in the match, suddenly popped up with a second strike, which would probably give him immortality amongst his own countrymen.

It had been a long and very tiring tour for England but they ended it with four wins out of four and given Graham Taylor the chance to see one or two fringe players perform in international football. The wisdom of such a tour certainly raised questions, but there was absolutely no question that the public relation exercise proved a huge success and England won many new friends as a result.
  

Gary Lineker produced the second four-goal burst of his international career, taking over from Jimmy Greaves as the second top England scorer of all time and he was now just four goals behind Bobby Charlton's record 49-goal haul. Many considered this should not have been classified as a full international, but there was no doubting Lineker's ability as a deadly finisher as he found the net in the first, twenty-third, thirtieth and seventieth minutes.  Lineker joined the England squad just for this match after taking part in club commitments with Tottenham. This was the second time he had scored four goals in an England shirt, and it included his fifth hat-trick.
   

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