NEW DELHI, Dec 16 ― Malaysia was on the receiving end of Holland’s fury as they were hammered 7-2 in the match to decide the bronze medal at the Junior World Cup yesterday.

“It was a poor performance by our standards and there was hardly any decent moves. The players were mentally down and exhausted after the semis,” said manager Mirnawan Nawawi.

“It is a sad way to end the tournament but the Dutch were a class above and had the desire to win.

“We have to look ahead and plan for the next Junior World Cup.”

It was one way traffic from the opening whistle as the Dutch side dominated possession and it did not take long for the men in orange to get on the scoreboard as skipper Roel Bovendeert finished of a brilliant solo effort in the third minute.

The Asian Junior Champions were clearly chasing shadows and found themselves two goals down after five minutes, this time an unmarked Thierry Brinkman easily deflected the ball home from three yards out.

The second goal was the wake-up call for coach K. Dharmaraj’s side. And from their first sight on goal, Muhammad Zulhairi Hashim reduced the deficit from a penalty corner in the seventh minute.

Firhan Ashaari came close to levelling the scores minutes later but his effort was saved by Dutch goalkeeper Piet Noordam.

In the 16th minute, Holland were 3-1 up thanks to Tom Hiebendaal who scored from a quick counter-attack. Holland then sealed the match as Milan Van Baal and Brinkman made it 5-1 going into the break.

There was further agony as Holland added a sixth via Hiebendal two minutes upon resumption with Jelie Galema adding the seventh in the 52nd minute.

Zulhairi reduced the deficit by converting a penalty corner in the 61st minute but that was scant consolation as Malaysia was well beaten by the Dutch.