A late stumble

A late goal-rush saw Bangladesh hockey team stumble to yet another big defeat in the 17th Asian Games at the Seonhak Hockey Stadium yesterday.

This time it was Malaysia, who pumped in four goals in the last quarter of their Pool A encounter to inflict a 5-1 defeat on Bangladesh, who had earlier lost their opening game against Japan 8-0.

However, Bangladesh showed signs of recovery after a horrendous start as they held Malaysia 1-1 until the game had entered the last quarter of the four-quarter (each quarter consisting of 15 minutes) game.

Bangladesh played well in the first quarter and kept Malaysia at bay before conceding the opening goal as Azuan Bin Hasan put Malaysia ahead five minutes into the second quarter.

Bangladesh bounced back on the half-hour mark when Krishna Kumar restored parity through a field goal, which Bangladesh held on until the end of the third quarter. But Bangladesh's defence fell like a house of cards in the fourth quarter, conceding four goals on the trot, thanks to some silly mistakes from goalkeeper Ashim Gope, who was brilliant under the post in the first three quarters.

“We played a good game and we controlled it for almost three and a half quarters. Unfortunately, we were not up to it for the rest of the time," said Bangladesh coach Naveed Alam.

"Today, we played a good game,” said Bangladesh's lone scorer Krishna Kumar, adding that they were looking forward to beating Singapore in their next match on Tuesday.