Black Sticks Men reach Nations Cup semis
- Dave Worsley
- 15 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Black Sticks Men's side have staged a remarkable comeback to beat hosts Malaysia 4-3 in front of a hostile crowd to reach the semifinals of the FIH Nations Cup with a game to spare.
Under the lights and surrounded by raucous local support, Malaysia scored the only goal of the first half with 12 minutes to play in the second quarter thanks to Abu Ka al Azraim setting up Anuar Akhimullah for a field goal.
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The hosts then kept out three New Zealand penalty corners to come out of a solid first-half 1-0 up and looking the better of the two sides.
Just under half-way into the third quarter, Fitri Saari confidently put away a penalty stroke to double the hosts’ lead. A minute later and the party truly started in Kuala Lumpur, as Azrai jinked and flicked his way to a second goal and a commanding 3-0 lead for Malaysia.
However the Black Sticks then fired up with Finn Ward deflecting from the top of the circle with just 90 seconds remaining in the third quarter much to the dismay of the crowd.
Simon Yorston then deflected in a penalty corner as Malaysia struggled with discipline and Fitri Saari was given a yellow card, which had provided the Blacksticks with the player advantage for their two quickfire goals,
Sean Findlay finishing a collapsed penalty corner to completely exhaust the Malaysian lead. shortly after Malaysia’s Mujahir Abdu Rauf was also shown a yellow card,
A smart touch by Ward completed yet another Nations Cup comeback to go top of Pool B and match France’s perfect record across the first two days.
Nic Woods received the Player of the Match award and reflected on how the hosts contributed to the Blackstick comeback:
“It’s a little bit easier when they’re down to nine men or ten men with the cards. We turned it up in the second half but it was helped by Malaysia’s ill-discipline.”
On day one of the tournament the Black Sticks beat Japan 2-1 and now face Pakistan in their final pool match with a semifinal spot assured already.
