KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian men's national hockey team lost 3-0 to a provincial side, Australia A, in their third consecutive defeat in gloomy Perth Friday.
Malaysia had lost 4-2 and 3-2 in their earlier matches, leading towards the Asian Games in Jakarta next month.
Coach Stephen van Huizen's men are targeted to win gold in the Games, and qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but their performance in Australia has been very cold.
Before the match started, Hockey Australia had tweeted: "Warm-up time on a gloomy Friday in Perth for Australia A who take on Malaysia soon."
Malaysia will play two more matches against the same side before Van Huizen selects his final 18 for Asian Games.
Yesterday, the other news from Perth was gloomy as well when Nabil Fiqri caught fever, while Meor Azuan Hassan picked up a hamstring injury.
No 1 goalkeeper S. Kumar was rested as well, and Australia A scored in the 29th, 44th and 58th minutes to seal the series with two matches in hand.
Van Huizen said: "It was another tough game which yielded disappointing results.
"My players worked very hard but were punished for making mistakes at crucial moments even though we were tighter and more patient in defence."
The seasoned coach said they have to regroup for the remaining two games.
"We conceded a goal one minute before half-time, and we worked hard to get the equalsier but could not find it. We need regroup for the remaining matches."
In Jakarta, Malaysia are in an easy Group B with Bangladesh, Oman, Thailand and Indonesia and their only tough opponents should be Pakistan.
Reaching the semi-finals is not difficult, but van Huizen and his men must finish tops in their group to avoid meeting early favourites India from Group A in the knock-out.
