KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia had ample chances to beat New Zealand but some scrappy hockey overshadowed their brilliant moments as they went down 3-2 in the Sultan of Johor Cup at the Taman Daya Stadium on Friday.
The crowd turned up in full force to cheer them on, but Malaysia bungled by making many silly mistakes in counter-attacks.
"In the last quarter of the match, New Zealand did have many players in the sin bin and at one time we were playing against nine men, but at the same time I also had many players who were carrying minor injuries like our goalkeeper Raz Azizul who had to be replaced by Danish Afnan Faizal.
"So I did not want to risk power play in the last few minutes (removing goalkeeper and replacing with defender) because we had another tough match tomorrow and I need all my players to be playable against one of the tournament favourites, India.
"India, even though they drew with Pakistan, displayed some strong traits but we are game to play them and anything is possible," said Malaysia coach Amin Rahim.
In earlier matches, India and Pakistan drew 3-3 while Australia beat Britain 3-0.
Malaysia had a shaky start, and let New Zealand roam freely in their semi-circle and paid the price in the sixth minute when they gave away a soft penalty corner. Luke Aldred punished a slow run-out with an accurate flick into the middle netting and it looked like coach Amin Rahim's boys were in for a miserable night.
But immediately upon restart, Malaysia won a penalty stroke and skipper Faris Harizan coolly converted the equaliser in the seventh minute.
But New Zealand were not ready to let Malaysia control the first quarter, and Scott Cosslett converted another penalty corner for New Zealand to lead 2-1 in the 15th minute.
Overall, Malaysia played well in patches, but their defending was loose and they let the Kiwis win easy penalty corners.
Team captain Faris showed he had a cool head on his shoulders when he inspired a fightback with a penalty corner drive in the 24th minute.
At the half-time break, Malaysia showed some intelligent moves, were positive even when a goal down, fought for balls, but easily gave away penalty corners.
However, the Kiwis were in deadly mode and in the 33rd minute, James Hickson scored their first field goal, and Malaysia were reduced to a fightback again for the remaining 12 minutes.
In the 47th minute, Malaysia found some breathing space when Benjamin Culhane was yellow carded and sent to the sin bin for five minutes, and with five more minutes left, New Zealand were again reduced to 10 players when Gus Nelson was yellow carded and the match was over for him.
But still, New Zealand controlled the match and handed Malaysia their first defeat in the SoJC.
