Malaysia squander 2-goal lead

MALAYSIA squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Austria in the first day of the World Cup Qualifiers in Invercargill, New Zealand.
It was a dream start, but lasted only eight minutes, and Tai Beng Hai’s men now have an uphill task in the Qualifiers after allowing 20th ranked Austria to make a late come-back.
Amin Rahim scored off a penalty corner in the sixth minute, and Azlan Misron made it 2-0 two minutes later and it looked like the Austrians were heading for a hiding.
But the goals dried up, and in the second half, Manuel Grandits scored a field goal, and three minutes from time, Michael Korper made it count off a penalty corner.
China also had a shaky start to the tournament as they were down 0-1 top Scotland, but a strong second half rally saved the day.
Scotland scored in the fourth minute off Stephen Dick and the Chinese had to wait until the 45th minute before Lu Yixian found the equaliser. Na Yubo delivered the three points in the 60th minute, and China live to fight on.
Hosts New Zealand has a super outing when they hammered Wales 6-2 with goals from Nicholas Wilson (17th, 60th), Andrew Hayward (33rd, 35th, 65th), Phillip Burrows (63rd).
The Welsh brace was scored by Richard Gay in the 37th and 49th minutes.
Malaysia play Wales

RESULTS: China 2 Scotland 1, New zealand 6 Wales 2, Malaysia 2 Austria 2.
TODAY: Scotland v New Zealand, Wales v Malaysia, Austria v China.


STANDINGS

P W D L F A PTS
New Zealand 1 1 0 0 6 2 3
China 1 1 0 0 2 1 3
Malaysia 1 0 1 0 2 2 1
Austria 1 0 1 0 2 2 1
Scotland 1 0 0 1 1 2 0
Wales 1 0 0 1 2 6 0