IPOH, Nov 25 (Bernama) -- National men's hockey head coach Sarjit Singh is far from pleased despite his men managing to edge Canada 3-2 in a Sultan Azlan Shah Cup (SASC) match at the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Stadium here yesterday.
His two main concerns are the national team's profligacy and their tendency to concede too many penalty corners.
"We often lose the ball and, on top of that, we fail to convert the chances created. That's very disappointing.
"We were actually lucky because Canada failed to convert many of their penalty corner set-piece moves, otherwise, the outcome would have been different,” he said.
Earlier, the Speedy Tigers got their goals through Akhimullah Anuar (fourth minute), Abu Kamal Azrai (19th minute) and Faizal Saari (24th minute), while Canada replied through Sean Davis (12th minute) and Matthew Sarmento (16th minute).
Sarjit also warned his men not to take any of the teams competing this year lightly, as they each have their own strengths.
"For example, take last night's match. Canada are ranked 20th in the world but still managed to hold world number three Belgium to a draw. That's not an easy thing to do, and it only highlights their (Canada's) strength,” he said.
Meanwhile, Canadian head coach Patrick Tshutshani, though disappointed with the defeat, was pleased with his men's overall performance, saying he was proud of the way his players matched the Speedy Tigers.
"I think we're quite clinical when we have the ball and when we go forward. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough (quality) to get it over the line.
“But the boys showed a bit of grit and determination, especially in the third and fourth quarters, where we started to put a lot more pressure (on the Malaysian team),” he said.
Malaysia, who began the tournament with a 2-2 draw against New Zealand on Sunday (Nov 23), will take on India tomorrow, followed by Belgium (Nov 27) and South Korea (Nov 29).
The top two teams after the round-robin league format will clash in the title showdown on Nov 30.
-- BERNAMA
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