The New Zealand men's hockey team have broken their duck in spectacular fashion at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia last night, a last-gasp goal from a penalty corner earning them a 3-2 win against the hosts.
New Zealand's chances of a breakthrough win at the tournament looked to
have been dashed when Faizal Saari equalised from a penalty corner four minutes from fulltime.
But a winner from Steven Edwards with time up, also from a penalty corner, has sealed the points for the youthful looking New Zealand team, their first win from four matches.
Coming off losses to Britain and Pakistan, and a draw with South Korea, the pressure was on New Zealand against a team which they have dominated in recent times.
They started brilliantly, controlling possession before Nick Wilson converted from their first penalty corner to open the scoring in the 15th minute.
But the New Zealanders lost their initiative leading up to halftime and the hosts capitalised 5min before the interval when Izzat Rahim powered in a reverse stick shot from the top of the circle.
Stephen Jenness edged the New Zealanders ahead with 13min remaining when he tapped in after some neat work from Hugo Inglis, before the fireworks kicked off in the final stages.
Saari slapped the ball home from a penalty corner but New Zealand pressed in the dying seconds and were rewarded when Malaysia failed to clear from a penalty corner and the ball fell to Edwards, who was free on the right and slipped in the winner.
The result extended Malaysia's poor recent run against New Zealand, having won just one of their 11 meetings during the past two years.
The going now gets much tougher for New Zealand, who are missing seven senior players - Ryan Archibald, Phil Burrows, Shea McAleese, Simon Child, Blair Hopping, Brad Shaw, and Richard Petherick - through injury or personal commitments.
Their next match is against India tomorrow with their final group fixture against Australia on Saturday. Classification matches are on Sunday.
Result: New Zealand 3 (Nick Wilson, Stephen Jenness, Steven Edwards) Malaysia 2 (Izzat Rahim, Faizal Saari). Halftime: 1-1.
