Juan Martin Lucero netted a hat trick as Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) basked in their Malaysia Super League (MSL) trophy celebrations with a 5-1 demolition of T-Team on Saturday night.
The Southern Tigers scored four times in an entertaining first half at Larkin Stadium as they took their goal tally for the season to 54 in 21 games.
The MSL relegation dogfight is also destined for the wire after Pahang squeaked out of the danger zone with a 1-0 win over fellow strugglers Penang, courtesy of a Matthew Davies' debut league goal.
The priceless strike of the Australian-born defender puts the Elephants in 10th spot on 20 points, a point above Penang and Terengganu, heading into the final game of the season.
Terengganu replaced Pahang in bottom place after turning in another pathetic performance at home, succumbing 3-0 to Kedah, who triumphed thanks to a Thiago Augusto brace and a Shane Smeltz effort.
The thrashing, in front of only 768 fans, leaves them with a do-or-die relegation showdown against Penang on the final day of the season.
But at the Larkin, there was a fiesta of JDT goals as Lucero led the celebrations, with a single-handed destruction of the Titans.
#LigaSuper2016 Zon penyingkiran semakin sengit! pic.twitter.com/iu1LsgHrKj
- Football Malaysia (@footballmasllp) September 24, 2016
After Amirulhadi Zainal opened the floodgates in the sixth minute, Lucero struck twice in the first half, before topping the cake with another on the hour mark.
An Abdoulaye Maiga own-goal added to T-Team's misery, who could only muster a scant consolation effort through Patrick Cruz.
Lucero's treble amounted to 52 goals by Argentines in the MSL this season, with only Malaysian players (120) and Brazilians (55) scoring more.
JDT's romp also puts them within 90 minutes of history as the only side to go an entire MSL season unbeaten.
The Southern Tigers will be fully confident of a result when they play Selangor in the final league fixture, after the Red Giants slumped to their seventh defeat of the season, with a 1-0 loss to Perak.
Ugo Ukah's 48th minute own goal at Shah Alam Stadium also means the Klang Valley outfit dropped to fifth, behind Kelantan who beat PDRM 2-1 on Friday.
At Tun Abdul Razak Stadium, Lutfulla Turaev popped up with a injury-time equaliser to earn second-placed Felda United a point in a thrilling 3-3 draw against Sarawak.
Tommy Mawat, Nur Shamie Iszuan and Gilmar gave the Crocs a 3-1 lead going into half-time, but Zah Rahan Krangar added to Gilberto Alemao's first-half effort before Turaev popped up with the last-gasp goal.
The MSL will take a month-long international break before the final league fixtures take place on Oct. 21.