Malaysia Edge Canada, But Teams To Clash Again For Third Placing

IPOH (Perak), March 30 (Bernama) -- Malaysia got back to winning ways when they defeated Canada 3-2 in their last round-robin match of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey Tournament at the Azlan Shah Stadium here Friday. The two teams will meet again at the same venue Saturday in the third-placing playoff after Malaysia finished third and Canada fourth in the six-team standings with six points each. All the five goals in Friday’s clash were scored in the first-half, with the Speedy Tigers, as the Malaysian hockey team are known, opening accounts in the sixth minute through a Mohd Firhan Ashari field goal. Stunned, Canada hit back through a Gordon Johnston penalty corner goal in the 15th minute. National skipper Razie Rahim restored Malaysia’s lead with a clever penalty corner set piece goal two minutes later. Malaysia’s joy did not last long though as Gordon popped up again to make it 2-2 in the 22nd minute. Nine minutes later, Fitri Saari made it 3-2 for Malaysia from the penalty spot and that’s how it stayed until the end of the match. National coach Roelant Oltmans said he was pleased with his team’s performance compared to Thursday’s 2-1 loss to South Korea. “I believe we can win (third-placing) game (against Canada) if the players follow the tactical instructions given to them,” he said. -- BERNAMA