The Malaysia national women's hockey team almost produced an unlikely comeback in their seventh place match against Scotland at the 2018 Commonwealth Games as they lost a close 4-2 match on Thursday.
Scotland raced to a 3-0 lead less than 30 minutes into the game thanks to Amy Brodie's brace and Millie Brown's strike.
Despite falling behind, K. Dharmaraj's squad mustered two penalty corner goals from Fatin Shafika Sukri and Nuraini Rashid in the third period.
In their hunt for an equaliser, they managed to put the ball in the back of the net with another penalty corner just before the end of the third quarter, but it was chalked off due to a player encroachment inside the penalty area.
Malaysia missed the retake, allowing Scotland to escape with a slim 3-2 lead into the fourth quarter, where Lucy Lanigan hit the final nail in the coffin with her 51st-minute effort.
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With the defeat, Malaysia finished eighth among 10 competing teams, equalling their performance in 2002.
Since the inclusion of women's hockey at the Commonwealth Games in 1998, Malaysia's best finish was sixth at the 2006 edition in Melbourne.
In the preliminary group stage, Malaysia were fourth in Pool A with one win, one draw and two losses, with their only victory coming against bottom-place Wales.
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Seng Foo Lee
Thu Apr 12 2018
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