Malaysia And Canada Share The Spoils As Australia Continue Winning Momentum

IPOH (Perak, Malaysia), April 13 (Bernama) -- Malaysia allowed Canada to come from behind and snatch a point in their Sultan Azlan Shah Cup match at the Azlan Shah Stadium, here Tuesday. Malaysia who conceded a goal in the 21st minute through Scott Tupper's strike, managed to equalise in the 29th minute through Shahril Saabah before Nabil Noor gave a ray of hope with a 31st minute strike. However, Matthew Guest spoiled the party for the home fans who had packed the stadium to the brim, with a 45th minute goal. In a top of the table clash played earlier, last year's runner-up Australia maintained its unbeaten run in the competition by beating defending champion New Zealand 1-0. Australia, the world's number one ranked team struck the winning goal through Jamie Dwyer in the 22nd minute. The win saw Australia remain at the top of the table with 12 points from four matches, three points ahead of India who moved into second spot after whipping arch rival Pakistan 5-1. India set the early pace and put Pakistan under tremendous pressure, forcing their rivals to concede a fourth minute goal field goal scored by Manpret Singh. Pakistan staged a quick fightback to equalise three minutes later through their skipper Muhammad Irfan (7th minute), but before the cheers of the Pakistan supporters had died down, India restored their lead through Sunil Sowmarpet's 10th minute goal. India continued to put their opponents under pressure and were rewarded with a third goal through Sunil in the 41st minute before Talwinder Singh (50th minute) and Rupinder Pal Singh (54th minute) completed the rout. --BERNAMA