RESULTS: London Spitfire Defeat Dallas Fuel 3-1 to End Stage 2

The london Spitfire came into today's match with a record of 7-2 in Stage 2 and in second place in the league. Coming off of a 4-0 victory over the Shanghai Dragons on Friday, London was looking to finish the week with a 2-0 record before beginning their playoff run. The Dallas Fuel entered the match with a 2-7 record for Stage 2 and in 11th place in the league. Suffering a close 3-2 loss to the New York Excelsior earlier in the week, Dallas was looking for a win over one of the best teams in the league to end Stage 2 and propel them into Stage 3. Here is a short breakdown of how the match went.

Volskaya Industries was the first map of the match and saw a very low scoring affair between both teams. London was able to capture Point A in their attack round, but Dallas employed a strong defense to prevent the Spitfire from capturing Point B. However, one point was all London needed, as they built their own impressive defensive stand to stop the Fuel from capturing Point A. This resulted in the 1-0 map win for the London Spitfire and gave them a 1-0 match lead to begin the action.

Lijiang Tower was the following map of the match. Much more offensive action was seen on the second map, as each team secured one of the first two hills to force a 1-1 tie. Looking to take a strong lead going into halftime, the London Spitfire were able to secure the third and final hill of the map to secure the 2-1 win on Lijiang Tower. With the victory, London went into the break with a commanding 2-0 lead over the Dallas Fuel. Impressive performances from Seung-Hyun "WooHyaL" Seong (31 eliminations, 14,545 damage blocked and two deaths as D.Va) and Jun-Young "Profit" Park (25 eliminations, a kill streak of nine and three deaths as Tracer) led the way for London on Lijiang Tower. 

Hollywood was the third map of the match and saw the Dallas Fuel bounce back from halftime very strong, as they would deliver the payload to the end of the map in their attack round to secure a 3-0 lead. Not wanting to let Dallas back into the match easily, the Spitfire staged their own strong offensive push to complete the map and tie Hollywood up at 3-3. In their second attack round, the London Spitfire were not able to break through the defense of the Fuel, which allowed Dallas to secure the 4-3 victory with a capture of the payload in their second attack round. The win cut London's lead to 2-1. Brandon "Seagull" Larned was a driving force for the Dallas Fuel's win on Hollywood, as he finished with 30 eliminations, 19,058 damage blocked and 10 deaths as D.Va. 

Route 66 was the final map of the match and saw the Dallas Fuel looking to continue their comeback, while the London Spitfire needed to close out a victory to put them in a position to claim the number one seed in the Stage 2 playoffs. Striking first, Dallas was able to deliver the payload to the second checkpoint of the map and take a 2-0 lead. However, London did not allow themselves to be denied the victory, as they would push through to the very end of Route 66 with a 10 kill streak from Jae-Hui "Gesture" Hong leading the way for the Spitfire to complete the map. This resulted in the 3-2 map win and the 3-1 match victory for the Spitfire.

The player of the match was awarded to Ji-Hyeok "birdring" Kim for his impressive McCree play through each map, as he finished with 34 eliminations, 21 final blows and 11 deaths. 

With the win, the London Spitfire improved to a record of 8-2 and remained in their 2nd place spot for the playoffs. The loss dropped the Dallas Fuel to a 2-8 record and capped off what has been another disappointing Stage for the talented team.

Interested in more Overwatch League coverage? Check out the official Overwatch League rulebook that has been made public for viewing by esports journalist Richard Lewis. To see where your favorite team currently is placed, check out the official standings.

(cover photo courtesy of Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment)