Men’s hockey team stun Scotland

GOLD COAST: The Malaysian men’s hockey team ended their Commonwealth Games campaign here in fifth place, after a lionhearted 2-1 comeback victory over Scotland yesterday.

In the match played at the Gold Coast Hockey Centre, Stephen Van Huizen’s men faced an uphill task early on as Alan Forsyth scored the opener for the Scottish side through a field goal at the 11th minute.

However, 10 minutes later, Muhammad Shahril Saabah restored parity for the Speedy Tigers, through a field goal of his own.

Malaysia, growing in confidence in the second-half, added another goal through a penalty corner by Amirul Aidid Md Arshad in the 39th minute, which sealed the win.

The victory also saw the hockey squad, which is currently ranked 12th in the world, one-up on their performance in Glasgow four years ago, where they finished seventh.

Van Huizen, when met said although he was disappointed over not reaching the semi-final, he was happy that Malaysia ended their run in fifth position.

“I also saw the younger players coming out and showing improvement, even though this was their first Commonwealth Games.

“But in today’s (yesterday’s) match, we did not play at our best, and I think we could have done better, and scored more goals. We spurned many good chances to score,” he noted.

Van Huizen said he would now focus on re-shaping the squad and improving the fitness level of the players, apart from addressing the team’s shortcomings.