SINGAPORE - Since he bagged his first goal for Singapore in a 1-1 draw against Mauritius in a 2018 friendly, Ikhsan Fandi had never gone more than three matches without scoring for the Lions – until recently.

But on Tuesday (June 14), the 23-year-old ended his four-game drought in stunning fashion as he bagged his first international hat-trick in a 6-2 win over Myanmar in the final match of their Asian Cup third-round qualifiers in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Ikhsan’s previous Lions goal came in a 2-1 win over Malaysia in a friendly in March, where he netted a brace.

His first hat-trick in national colours takes his tally to 16 goals in 31 matches. It led to coach Takayuki Nishigaya – who got his first win as Lions coach after four matches – to call Ikhsan “one of the best that I have worked with”.

Said Nishigaya: “Congratulations to him for his first international hat-trick. He is going to score more goals for the country in the next 10 years and I look forward to his development. He is only going to get better with more matches.”

Ikhsan, who now has 20 goals this year in 29 matches for club and country, said he had no self-doubts during the drought. In fact, he had not thought about it.

He said: “It feels great to score a hat-trick but most importantly we got the win. Given how we had been playing, we deserved it.

“After the previous matches, I did watch back my clips and I felt I could have been more composed but I was not worried. It’s been a good year so far and I hope to have a good break and score more goals and win some trophies with my club (BG Pathum United).”

After losing their first two qualifiers to Kyrgyzstan (2-1) and Tajikistan (1-0), the Lions had gone into Tuesday’s match with no chance of being one of the 11 teams who will advance to the Finals to join 13 others who have already qualified.

With the win against Myanmar, who are six places above the 158th-ranked Lions, Singapore will finish third in the four-team Group F with three points from three matches.

The Lions raced to a two-goal lead in the opening 16 minutes.

In the ninth minute, a pin-point cross by Gabriel Quak from the left flank was met expertly by a header from Ikhsan for his first goal of the night. Song Ui-young doubled the Lions’ lead seven minutes later.

In the 42nd minute, Ikhsan returned the favour to Quak as the pair exchanged a one-two before the latter drilled it into the low corner of the net.

Ikhsan scored his second in the 54th minute when he accelerated past Myanmar defender Ye Min Thu before netting with his weaker left foot.

In the 69th minute, Ikhsan got his hat-trick and Singapore’s fifth when he got on the end of a brilliant lofted ball from Faris Ramli and finished coolly.

Substitute Hafiz Nor saved the best for the last in the 89th minute when he unleashed a first-time volley off Nur Adam Abdullah’s cross from the left.

Myanmar scored in the 53rd and 66th minutes through Win Naing Tun and Aung Kaung Mann.

While Singapore and Myanmar failed to advance from Group F, next year’s Finals will see a record number of teams from the region qualifying on merit.

Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia have booked their places and will be joined by either the Philippines or Indonesia.

Analysis

At the fourth time of asking, the Lions finally delivered a win under coach Nishigaya. While it has come against fellow South-east Asian side Myanmar in what was a dead rubber, it was an indication of the firepower that the Lions possess in their armoury. This was the Lions' biggest victory against Myanmar in their 12th match against the opponents. The previous best was a 3-0 win during the AFF Suzuki Cup last December.

Against Kyrgyzstan (95th) and Tajikistan (114th) who were also higher ranked than the Lions, Singapore created multiple clear-cut chances but were not clinical.

But the identity that has been forged under Nishigaya - one with aggressive pressing and quick transitions in attack - was once again on display here and this time the Lions put their chances away with aplomb.

On the whole, this has been a positive qualifying tournament for Nishigaya's men when it comes to performances but if the Japanese coach is hopeful of proving to be a successful appointment, the Lions including hat-trick hero Ikhsan must convert against the continent's better sides in trying circumstances and not just in inconsequential ties like this.