Conceding early costs Malaysia dearly as they miss last-eight spot

Going all out: Malaysia’s Faris Harizan (right) vying for the ball with Australia’s Cooper Burns during their Group A match. — MHC

KUALA LUMPUR: The spectre of conceding early goals came back to haunt the Malaysian junior hockey team again.

The team coached by Amin Rahim found themselves 0-3 down to Australia in the first quarter of their last Group A match in the Junior Hockey World Cup and despite mounting a fightback, could not overturn the deficit and ended up losing 2-5 at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

The defeat ended the Young Tigers’ chances of reaching the quarter-finals after the team had also lost 0-4 to Argentina.

Amin rued his team’s inconsistency during the match.

“Conceding early goals is becoming a problem for the team,” lamented Amin.

“The same thing happened in the Sultan of Johor Cup last month.

“We let in three goals and the team’s morale was affected. The boys tried to fight back but again let in more goals.

“They created chances but were not clinical enough.”

Australia’s Cooper Burns struck in the second minute through a penalty corner before Jake Lambeth doubled his team’s advantage in the sixth minute through a field goal.

Cambell Geddes put the Aussies in control with the third goal in the 15th minute through a penalty corner.

Harris Osman gave the Young Tigers some hope of a comeback in the 21st minute through a field goal but Lambeth scored again six minutes later to put the Aussies in control.

Shafiq Ikhmal Daniel pulled another field goal back for Malaysia in the 44th minute but the team could not prevent Geddes from striking again just a minute later though a penalty corner to seal the win for Australia.

“The players and I take full responsibility for not meeting the target of making it to the quarter-finals,” said Amin.

“We knew that defending champions Argentina and Australia were the favourites to make it out of the group.

“As hosts, we had to try our best to challenge these two hockey giants.

“The boys have to learn from these two defeats and work harder to improve.”

Malaysia’s tournament though is not over as the team will next face Egypt in the 9th to 16th classification playoffs on Monday.

Meanwhile, Australia will play France in the last eight.