Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team beat Malaysia 2-1 in 7th Sultan of Johor Cup 2017

Johor Bahru, Malaysia, 23 October 2017: The Indian Junior Men’s Hockey team came from behind to win their second consecutive match of the 7th Sultan of Johor Cup 2017 with a 2-1 win against hosts Malaysia at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium here today. Malaysia scored early in the match through Firdaus Omar (3’) but India’s Dilpreet Singh (20’, 43’) scored twice to win the game for his team.

It was the Malaysian side who started the match aggressively as they displayed some attacking play which led to an early penalty corner in the 3rd minute. The drag-flick from Malaysia’s Firdaus Omar was struck fiercely towards the bottom left of Indian Goalkeeper Pankaj Rajak which gave Malaysia a 1-0 lead. Malaysia continued to make inroads into the Indian defense throughout the first quarter but India’s defense was up to the task as the teams ended the first quarter with Malaysia leading by a single goal.

However, in the second quarter, India started strongly as they looked to make a comeback into the match. The efforts from the Indian team led to an equalizer in the 20th minute when a long pass to Dilpreet Singh was well controlled by the forward on the right flank, after which he turned inside and hit a fierce shot that was deflected off the Malaysian Goalkeeper Muhamad Mat Deris into the back of the net. It was the Indian team which had the momentum on their side in the second quarter but they could not take the lead as the teams went into half-time locked at one goal apiece.

India were quick off the blocks again in the third quarter as they attacked the Malaysians from the start, pressing higher up the pitch to regain possession quickly. Malaysia looked to threaten on the counter but were unable to make attacking forays as they were not efficient in their opportunities. India were looking strong offensively as they maintained possession in attacking areas to put pressure on the Malaysian defence which finally led to a second goal in the 43rd minute when Maninder Singh showed his stick skills on the right flank and passed the ball inside the circle which was put in the back of the net by Dilpreet Singh. India ended the third quarter with a 2-1 lead after Dilpreet Singh scored his fourth goal of the tournament.

In the last quarter, Malaysia looked to find the equaliser to avoid defeat at the hands of India in their second match of the tournament. The Malaysians were awarded two penalty corners in the 54th and 55th minute, but the first one was saved well by India’s Goalkeeper Pankaj Rajak and the second one was hit wide by the Malaysian drag-flicker. In the end, India kept their defensive wall in shape and tried to play out the ball from the defence which worked well for them as they were victorious by a score-line of 2-1.