Malaysia forced to share points

22/01/2002

MALAYSIA had it made until a blunder forced them to share points with New
Zealand in the Six-Nation at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil
yesterday.
They did everything well and their penalty corners were of interesting
variations but in the 52nd minute, a comical situation undid everything
they had worked hard for.
It was unbelievable how Nasihin Nubli lifted his pads and allowed the
ball to roll into goal thinking that the shot came from outside the
semicircle. New Zealand must be thanking their lucky stars because they
did not deserve one point in a match which was controlled by Malaysia.
In the fist minute itself Mirnawan Nawawi had a good look at the Kiwi
goalmouth but his attempt was saved by goalkeeper Paul Woolford. Then in
the fifth minute, Mirnawan's close attempt hit the top bar and sailed out.
The two attempts were an early warning from Malaysia that they were out
to salvage some pride after the 4-1 defeat to Pakistan on Sunday.
In the 13th minute, New Zealand won their first penalty corner and
Hayden Shaw's flick was palmed into play by Nasihin.
A fast counter attack was mounted by Malaysia and they won a penalty
corner on the other half.
Maninderjit Singh's slow hit rebounded off goalkeeper Woolford and
Minarwan had a good chance but instead of scoring, he won another penalty
corner.
Chua Boon Huat's low flick was connected into the goal by pusher
K.Keevan Raj and Malaysia were in a good position for three points.
There was a marked improvement in the Malaysian side because they no
longer argued with the umpires when decisions were made against them, that
made a big difference in their game.
It is learnt that the team mnagement had sent out a stern warning that
action will be taken against any player who argues with the umpire because
in the champions challenge in December, Malaysian players picked up six
yellow cards and in crucial moments of the game they were down to 10-men
because one was sitting in the sin bin for arguing with the umpire.
Paul Lissek fielded the second goalkeeper Nasihin for the New Zealand
match because he was obviously disappointed with the way Roslan Jamaluddin
failed to play to instructions in the match against Pakistan on Sunday.
Roslan was told to run out in the second penalty corner but he rushed
out in the first itself and Pakistan, who knew the trick, punished
Malaysia with a variation in their penalty corner.
In the second half, Malaysia attacked and kept up the pressure until the
52nd minute when a bungle led the Kiwis back into the match.
A shot was taken from the top of the semicircle but Nasihin and the
Malaysian defenders thought that the ball was hit from outside and just
watched as the ball went in. So confident was Nasihin that the ball was
hit from outside the semicircle that he even lifted is pads and allowed
the ball to go in.
The umpire blew for a goal but then consulted the second umpire on the
status of the goal. After a brief discussion, he again blew for goal and
New Zealand were handed a gift-wrapped goal in the 52nd minute.
Malaysia attacked well for the reminder of the match, but the night just
didn't belong to them.
RESULTS
PAKISTAN .................... 9 JAPAN ............... 1
Sohail Abbas (11th) Takahiko Yamabori (6th)
Kashif Jawed (16th, 45th, 67th)
Sameer Hussain (18th, 19th)
Sarwar Mohamed (39th, 70th)
Shahbaz Ahmed (61st)
MALAYSIA .................... 1 N ZEALAND ........... 1
K. Keevan Raj (16th) Simon Towers (52nd)
AUSTRALIA ................... 4 HOLLAND ............. 4
Matthew Smith (13th) Aaron Hopkins (21st)
Ben Taylor (27th) Bram Lomans (44th)
Jamie Dawyer (41st) Teun de Nooijer (55th)
Micheal McCann (57th) Marten Eikelboom (67th)
(END)