Great Britain (4) vs. Malaysia (1) (Men)
Olympic Qualification
03.11.2019
15.00 Push Back
After GB’s come back yesterday evening, they have a comfortable aggregate lead of four goals to one. It will be interesting to see what sort of Malaysia we will turn up for this match. Will it be the energetic and dynamic side that we saw in the opening stages of the first game, or the tired looking side that was worn down by Britain’s ball possession?
The first great chance goes to Great Britain, as a through ball is slipped to Alan Forsyth. The flying Scotsman goes one on one with the keeper, but Kumar Subramiam, in the away team’s goal, does well and delays him long enough for the defence to help out. The hosts are working the ball from left to right and back again looking for space. On eight minutes Sam Ward drives along the baseline with the ball and the keeper slides out to challenge, wiping the British forward out. The umpire immediately blows for a penalty stroke. Malaysia refer the decision upstairs. The stroke stands and with only minutes played of the first quarter the Malaysians have lost their right to dispute. Forsyth steps up to make amends for this earlier chance and slots it to his left, sending the goalie the wrong way; GB 1 – 0 Malaysia.
On nine minutes a diagonal cross field pass left to right from Liam Sanford finds Harry Martin. He advances, carrying the ball forward and plays Sam Ward inside the circle, who duly sends it into the back of the goal and the British team is now cruising. Malaysia come immediately up the end of the pitch looking to get one back, but it’s blocked by opposition defence. The away side are certain that they should have been awarded a penalty stroke, but they have lost their referral and the game moves on. At the end of the first quarter the score is GB 2 – 0 Malaysia.
The Malaysians come out in the second period in search of a goal, and in the third minute they send a stinger towards George Pinner from the top of the circle, but the Englishman is equal to it and sees the ball away. Shortly after Malaysia get a free hit. Pinner is struggling with his right kicker, it seems like the strap is broken, so the taking of the restart has been delayed. On six minutes Malaysia work the ball from right to left. Norsyafiq Sumantri gets the ball on he left of the circle and sends it to the far post, but Pinner stretches to keep area safe. In the ninth minute David Ames is shown a green card for the body check in midfield that sent a tourist to the ground. Malaysia make the power play count and win a short corner. A top ‘dee’ shot forces the British keeper to kick away with his left foot, but it only goes as far as Fitri Saari who shoots from close range and scores in the second phase. The away team is coming forward in numbers now and at pace. Britain are having to defend in numbers. This is hard for Malaysia, but they are stretching the hosts and openings are starting to appear. There aren’t any more goals however and at half time the score is GB 2 – 1 Malaysia.
Malaysia get us under way for the second half. Great Britain win the ball back almost immediately, with Sam Ward on the move. He plays in Will Calnan, who draws a foul in the circle and wins a short corner. It’s laid up for Ward, who sends an absolute bullet against the back board, to restore the two goal advantage; GB 3 – 1 Malaysia.
Shortly after the restart Malaysia get a chance from a set piece themselves. Henry Weir is the first runner and he sees it away. The Asians are certain that it was done so illegally, but they lost their referral and play moves on. In the sixth minute Zachary Wallace gets a green card. On nine minutes Great Britain win short corner. The ball is slipped to captain Adam Dixon, who plays it to Sam Ward, who looks for the touch at the back post, but no-one can connect cleanly to tuck it away. Malaysia then have a turn at coming forward winning a short corner a minute or so later. A drag flick from Razie Rahim, with his 39” stick gets past George Pinner in goal; GB 3 – 2 Malaysia.
A firm shot from Phil Roper forces a save from Kumar Subramiam. A rebound shot is fired in, but Sam Ward takes it in the head. He’s been cut and requires the medical attention. The stadium’s support staff have come on to clean up the pitch. With a little under a minute to go in the third quarter, GB win yet another short corner. It’s a poor injection and in the scramble to sort things out Malaysia win a free hit. As we go in to the final break the score is GB 3 – 2 Malaysia.
There have been periods of domination for Malaysia, in the fourth quarter, keeping the ball high up the pitch, but GB are defending well and in numbers. The away team has kept their tempo up throughout the match and haven’t dwindled like they did yesterday. There’s a replay of the Sam Ward head injury going around the press box and it looked like a sore one. We haven’t seen him back out yet in this quarter. I’m told later that the Englishman has gone to hospital for some stitches. After ten minutes, Britain win a free hit in the Malaysian half. They take it quickly. Phil Roper sends it to Tom Sorsby, just as he rolls onto the pitch. The youngster drives onto the pass and into he circle and plays the ball right to the far post. Forsyth slides in and deflects it home; GB 4 – 2 Malaysia.
The hosts keep coming forward and within a minute win a short corner. It’s defected wide. The umpire gives a hit out to Malaysia, but Great Britain use their referral, asking for a push in the circle. The decision is turned over and a penalty stroke is awarded. Forsyth steps up again and sends the keeper the wrong way again, but this time he puts the ball to his right; GB 5 – 2 Malaysia. This show the game ends, with a hat trick for Alan Forsyth. The overall score between the two matches is GB 9 – 3 Malaysia and the Europeans are going to Tokyo next year.
Great Britain captain Adam Dixon chatted to me after the final whistle about the threat of his team’s opponents today. “I’d say that they are well organised. Definitely sit back, soak up a bit of pressure, counter attack hard, with a lot of pace and flair and for us. We back ourselves to be stronger and fitter and I think that we have to make sure although we went down one nil in that first game that we just stick to our game plan. We knew if we were consistent in our approach and we just played keep the ball for long enough, that they start to become disorganised and find those little pockets of space to play in, then that was going to be our game.”
Hat trick hero Alan Forsyth also spoke to me after the game. “The main thing was to get the win, to get us through Tokyo. I think if you look back at it, it probably wasn’t our best performance, but good teams win ugly and we’ve grounded it out and we’ve still scored some goals, when we’ve not been at our best and shows you where we are at the moment. No matter what we’re doing we try to stick to our guns and play our game and I feel that my job is to score goals and Wardie [Sam Ward] is the same and today that happened for both of us, so it’s a good win.”
