By Ghaz Ramli
Malaysian captain Shahrun Nabil Abdullah remained a cool cat after his side was thrashed 8-0 against host Australia at the International Super Series Hockey 9s at the Perth Hockey Stadium today.
"The team here in Perth consist of some young players and we are in the midst of training phase."
"We approached today's game with not much expectation. The 9s game is modern hockey with a fast phase and we were not," said Shahrun.
However, Shahrun, who has captained the national side for 43 games is confident of the new players in the squad.
"We are showing progress and that is always a positive," said the Terengganu born looking ahead with the assignment scheduled for the national team.
Australian star Jamie Dwyer transformed the Kookaburras into a goal machine in the sixth minute before completing his hat-trick with goal in the 19th and 34th minute.
Liam Young, Aran Zalewski and Simon Orchard got a goal each in the 14th, 18th and 30th minute respectively.
Russell Ford become the toast of the crowd as he converted two penalty corner at the buzzers. One during the half-time while his second goal came at the full time buzzer.
The Kookaburras take on Pakistan tomorrow while Malaysia will play Argentina.
"We have learnt a lot since our friendly against Argentina (lost 5-1) three days ago," said Shahrun.
"We will use the lessons learnt in the two defeats (yesterday against Pakistan) to try to hold the Argentineans," he added.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian women side was outplayed by Argentina losing 10-1 with Malaysia's sole goal coming from Siti Noor Amarina Ruhani. They play Canada tomorrow
RESULTS
WOMEN
MAS 1 ARG 10
AUS 7 CAN 0
MEN
AUS 8 MAS 0
ARG 5 PAK 5
FIXTURES (19 Oct)
WOMEN
CAN V MAS
AUS V ARG
MEN
PAK V AUS
ARG V MAS
