'We played to our standard'

The Bangladesh hockey team qualified for the fifth-sixth place decider against South Korea despite suffering a 5-0 defeat against Pakistan in their last Pool B match at the Gelora Bung Karno hockey field in Jakarta yesterday.

The men in red and green improved their performance from the 7-0 defeat against Malaysia, but could not avoid suffering another big defeat against the eight-time champions. They conceded two goals in the first quarter before letting in one goal in each of the next three quarters, with two of the goals coming from penalty corners (PC).

Bangladesh had lost by 7-0 in their Asia Cup match against Pakistan at home last year.

Yesterday's result saw Bangladesh finish third, behind group-winners Pakistan and second-placed Malaysia, setting them up for Saturday's match against South Korea, who finished third in Pool A following a surprise 3-2 defeat against Japan in the last group stage match last night.

Pakistan started the match fiercely and scored in the second minute, with Muhammad Atiq tapping in after a move from the left.

Gobinathan Krishnamurthy's charges tried to regroup and defend in numbers, but they went two goals down seven minutes later when Mubashar Ali converted the green shirt's second PC.

Pakistan missed a couple of good opportunities in the second quarter before converting their fourth PC in the 26th minute, with Mubashar once again picking the top corner of the net to the left of goalkeeper Abu Sayeed Nippon.

While Bangladesh were busy defending their own net, they fell further behind seven minutes after the break; Shan Ali scored with a fierce reverse hit from just inside the circle.

The contest was wrapped up 12 minutes later when Atiq converted the team's sixth PC, picking the lower corner to Nippon's right.

Bangladesh earned a PC of their own in the 54th minute but they failed to capitalise on that opportunity.

Coach Krishnamurthy was satisfied with the performance of his charges as he felt they played according to their standard.

“We played to our standard and I'm happy with that. We were much lower than our standard against Malaysia, but today the boys gave their best effort,” the Malaysian said after the match.

“The boys will rest tomorrow [Wednesday] and train in the following two days to prepare for our last match,” he said.

Having achieved their target of qualifying for the fifth-sixth place decider, the coach said they would try their best in the last match against Korea to make it a memorable campaign.

“It will be tough but definitely we will try to give our best shot,” the coach added.

Captain Farhad Ahmed Shetul said they would have been more satisfied had they conceded one or two goals less.

“We conceded one or two more goals from PCs which we should not have. Anyway, we will play as best as we can in the last match of the competition,” he said.