IPOH, May 7 — Defending champions Malaysia produced a stunner to beat world number 10, New Zealand 6-4 in the 30th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup (SASC), as striker Muhammad Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal fired his second hattrick of the tournament.
The Speedy Tigers were firing on all cyclinders despite the rainy weather conditions at the Azlan Shah Hockey Stadium, by starting the scoring spree as early as the second minute through Faizal Saari’s field goal against the Olympic-bound side.
Malaysia, ranked world number 13, then extended the lead through Muhammad Azrai Aizad’s penalty corner in the fifth minute, while young hitman Azimuddin Syakir Kamaruddin scored his second international goal in his third cap, a minute later to bring cheers for some 4,000 spectators in the stadium.
Muhammad Azrai Aizad then slotted-in a beautiful through pass from Shello Silverius in the 14th minute, but the Black Sticks chased back via Jake Smith’s 19th minute counter attack and penalty stroke from Jonty Elmes in the 28th minute.
The two-time champions had another chance to narrow the gap through a second penalty stroke from Elmes just 18 seconds before the break, but goal keeper Muhammad Hafizuddin Othman made a brilliant save on his right to maintain the score at 4-2.
After a goalless third-quarter, Sarjit Singh’s charges continued their scoring feast in the final quarter when Muhajir Abdul Rauf pushed in Muhammad Azrai Aizad’s pass in the 52nd minute.
New Zealand’s tactician Greg Nicol then opted power-play (replacing goal keeper with an outfield player), which yielded results when the Kiwis scored through Scott Cosslett’s penalty corner in the 58th minute.
However, the tactic backfired as the Speedy Tigers netted another in the 60th minute through a quick counter attack by Muhammad Azrai Aizad to complete the 24-year-old’s second hattrick after scoring three against Pakistan on Saturday, while Isaac Houlbrooke netted a penalty corner in the final 18 seconds of play to end the highly entertaining match 6-4.
Malaysia previously went down 4-5 to Pakistan before bouncing back to beat Canada 6-2, while New Zealand, who hammered Canada 7-1, lost 1-4 to Japan.
“Though we played well against Pakistan, the results didn’t favour us, but today the result favoured us. We’re lucky to score early goals because they started to make mistakes and the goals just kept coming to lead 4-0, however, after missing the fifth to lead 5-0, we lost focus a bit to allow them back, but it happens in hockey as we tend to get relaxed when leading.
“They pressured us in the last few minutes, and really had chances with power-play. We need to strengthen our defence as our forwards are doing their job well. This is a learning process, the players are really committed and will get there slowly,” Sarjit said in the post match press conference.
Sarjit also praised the performances of forwards Faizal, hattrick hero Muhammad Azrai Aizad and stopper Muhammad Hafizuddin, who was named the Man of the Match.
Facing Japan, who are still unbeaten after three matches, on Wednesday, Sarjit demanded another good performance from his charges, while adding that they need to recover well after playing a tough opponent on a heavy pitch today due to rain.
After three matches in the round robin, Pakistan top the standings based on goal advantage though sharing seven points with Japan, followed by Malaysia (6 pts), New Zealand (3 pts), South Korea (3 pts) and Canada, who have yet to secure a point.
The top two teams would challenge for the title, while the third-fourth placed teams would play in the bronze medal play-off. — Bernama
