The Burras have bounced back from their shock opening loss to Japan at the 2018 Sultan of Johor Cup with a 6-1 win over hosts Malaysia at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium on Sunday night.
The Malaysians put up a fight in the first quarter but capitulated in the later stages to suffer a big defeat.
For the Australians, who are the defending champions, it was the right response to the indifferent form they showed in the earlier match.
Malaysia’s penalty corner defending left much to be desired although they had initially matched the Australians stride for stride.
Australians coach Chris O’Reilly said that he was pleased with the big win and hoped to see the improvement going to the other games.
“It was a good show as we played well all around. We took our chances well and the penalty corners were much better. Today they kept a tight control of the match,” he said.
Both teams had lost their opening games on Saturday and needed to win to keep their finals hopes alive.
Malaysian started well by pinning the Australians in deep defence. But they couldn’t make their strong start last.
Against the run of play, Australia scored a field goal in the eighth minute through Hayden Beltz.
In the second quarter, the Australians had more chances and managed to increase the lead in the 26th minute through Alec Rasmussen.
The Malaysians reduced the deficit in the 37th minute off a penalty corner variation taken by Mohamed Hasrin.
But the fightback ended soon enough.
Damon Steffens scored from a short corner in the 44th minute while Jake Staines also was on target in the 45th minute off another penalty corner.
The Malaysians conceded another two more goals, via the penalty corner set-piece moves in the 53rd and 54th minute.
Coby Green was on target for the fifth goal while Steffens added another goal to his tally.
Australia will play hosts Great Britain next on Tuesday from 7:05pm AEDT. Watch the game via this link.
VIS athletes: Nathan Ephraums, Daniel McBride, Damon Steffens
