By FIHIN A a very hot afternoon in Santiago, Malaysia defeated Ireland to earn their first win in this BDO World Qualifier.
From the very beginning of the match, Malaysia imposed a fast pace attack with long passes to their forwards who kept the Irish defense on their toes.
Ireland, in their quest to compete with Malaysia transitioned fast from defense trying to create attacks specially with their and most experienced player, Eimear CREGAN.
In the first half, both teams battled hard to control the game. However, Malaysia was more successful at circle penetrations and creating Penalty Corners.
In the second half of the game Malaysia become stronger, an excellent left side approach by Juliani MOHAMAD DIN created their fifth Penalty Corner of the game where Norbaini HASHIM opened the score board for Malaysia. Malaysia continues to dominate with hard long passes to forwards Norazlin SUMANTRI, Fazilla; SYLVESTER SILIN and Siti Noor Amarina RUHANI as target.
It was only four minutes later, that Rabiatul Adawiyah MOHAMED score Malaysia´s second goal.
Umpires Stella BARTLEMA from Nederland’s and Michelle JOUBERT from South Africa were full of activity in this back to back game that finished with a 3:0 to Malaysia with Norazlin SUMANTRI’s last goal.
Ireland tried to recover. However, their passes were not as effective and their receptions were ill-timed, putting them into constant pressure by the Malaysia’s Team. Even the Irish Goalkeeper, Mary GOODE made good saves today, it was not enough to manage against Malaysia’s forceful attitude.
