Australian coach Jay Stacy credited the young and inexperienced Malaysian side for a gallant performance until the third quarter and said it was unfortunate the host went down by a big margin.
“At the beginning it was quite an arm-wrestle. We had quite a bit of ball possession but Malaysia did a good job to keep us out with just a couple of chances. However, it wasn’t all the way a one-way traffic. In the end our momentum picked up and we got on top till the end,” said Stacy. Reflecting on Australia’s 8-0 win over the host.
“Apart from that we also have a few areas to improve and to continue grow throughout the tournament both individually and as a team,’ he added.
Two-time champions Australia lead the table standings with six points and go into a head to head clash against defending champions Great Britain tomorrow at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium.
“I think we improved on our last performance (against Japan). I am pleased we had 14 penalty corners against Malaysia but we would like to do a little better in our conversion rate,” said Stacy. “Definitely our match against Great Britain will be exciting and we look forward towards it.
“We just want to look at the proses of each match. We respect each opposition and come up with a game plan, and playing structure that will give us a better chance of creating opportunities.”
(Press Release: Sultan of Johor Cup Media Team)
