Kookaburras Record late Win
The Kookaburras have made an unimpressive start in their first match of 2011, with a goal in the dying seconds of the match giving them a 2-1 come from behind win over Malaysia tonight in their first game of the Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia.
Malaysia, ranked 15th in the world, really took it up to the reigning World Champions. Malaysia led for the majority of the match, with two goals to the Kookaburras in the final 11 minutes of the match, including the last goal with only 35 seconds remaining on the clock, giving them the victory.
The Malaysian defence was extremely impressive against the Kookaburras, denying all of Australia’s penalty corner attempts.
After 20 minutes had passed and the scores were still level Malaysia continued to grow in confidence and eventually scored the first goal of the match at the 23 minute mark to take the lead against Kookaburras debutant goalkeeper Andrew Charter.
Malaysia continued to have the upper hand in the second half, and an upset seemed a real possibility as the minutes ticked by.
However when the Kookaburras were awarded a penalty stroke mid way through the second half Simon Orchard made no mistake, levelling the score and bringing the Kookaburras back into the game.
When Malaysia was awarded a penalty stroke at the 63 minute mark, they seemed certain to regain the lead,however a weak shot from Faisal Saari was easily saved by Charter in goals and the scores remained level.
Malaysia were made to pay for their mistake in the final minute of the match when Jason Wilson scored with only seconds remaining, helping the Kookaburras escape from jail and record the win.
– Hockey Australia
