Malaysia 1 Australia 2

MALAYSIA almost did the unthinkable, but lost 2-1 to Australia in the 20th Edition of the Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh yesterday.
A missed penalty stroke, a bloody nose, and a brusing encounter was what Malaysia suffered against the World No 1.
Malaysian strikers caught Australia napping in the first half with swift counter attacks which resulted in two penalty corenrs won and a super goal in the 23rd minute.
Both the penalty corners went to waste, but Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin brough the roof down when his stylish goal gave Malaysia an unxepected lead.
Receiving an overhead ball from Radzi Rahim at the back-line, Tengku collected the ball and beat Brent Dancer at the tip of the semi-circle, before racing in and then beating goalkeeper Andrew Charter with a deft reverse stick shot.
Tengku, who wore the skipper's armband, scored a similar spectatcular goal against Great Britain on Thursday.
The second half also belonged to Malaysia, with Asia's best goalkeeper S. Kumar bringing out some super saves to deny Australia the eqaliser.
And upfront, Tengku, Faizal Saari and Hafifihafiz Hanafi created many chances, but could not finish them off.
Australia finally got the break they were looking for when a poor pass from Madzli Ikmar was snatched by the Australians and off a goalnmouth melee, Madzli was hit on the face by a goal-bound shot and a penalty stroke was given away.
Madzli made up for his mistake, but Simon Orchard stepped up to the spot and beat Kumar in the 59th minute for the equaliser.
Malaysia refused to share the points and immediately mounted an attack which resulted in a penalty corner, which was turned into a penalty stroke when the ball hit an Aussie leg.
However, the 63rd minute penalty stroke, taken by Faizal Saari, was easily stopped by goalkeeper Andrew Charter.
Australia won a penalty corner in the last minute of the match, and it was heartbreak for Malaysia as Jason Wilson scored the winner with 35 seconds remaining on the clock.
Meanwhile India upset the formbook when they beat Great Britain 3-1 with Rupinder Singh helping himself to a hat-trick of penalty corners in the 10th, 55th, 57th minutes.
The Britain goal was scored by James Tindell in the 62nd minute.