# Malaysia get their first win
# Great Britain beat Japan 3-1 to go to the top of the table
# Defending champions Australia edge India 4-3 in a seven-goal thriller
Great Britain are on the top of the table after a 3-1 win over Japan in the Sultan of Johor Cup Under-21 Invitational Under-21 tournament at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium in Johor Bahru on Thursday.
Their fourth consecutive win gave the British 12 points – making Saturday’s final matches between Great Britain-India and Malaysia versus Australia as the deciders that would decide the finalists this year.
India fell to a 4-3 defeat at the hands of defending champions Australia while Malaysia went on a scoring spree with a massive 18-0 win over debutants the United States of America.
Along the way, the Americans are setting new records every day and the latest defeat left them with a huge, huge 70-0 tally and the only team that has not scored a goal let alone get a point after four matches.
What will be the scoreline against Japan in their final round robin match on Saturday and the placing matches on Sunday is their last hope of change the statistics in their trip to this beautiful country called Malaysia.
This match will be played at 8.05pm at the same venue and will the Japanese have mercy or become the first team to concede a goal to the Americans? It is left to be seen if this scenario will happen.
Great Britain coach coach Jon Bleby was a happy man with the win over Japan and said: “The players showed character against Japan and that is the attitude we like.”
His Japanese counterpart Kyoichi Nagaya responded with this: “We just lost to a better team. The British were fast in the last quarter and created many chances and won. I am not disappointed with the players who played a hard game.”
After an early exchange of opportunities between both teams, Ramu Watanabe gave Japan the lead off a penalty corner conversion at the stroke of half time.
Great Britain responded in the 44th minute with Edward Way hammering the equalizer also off a penalty corner. It was 2-1 for Great Britain in the 54th minute before Zachary Wallace completed the scoring.
The British now need only a draw against India to book their Sunday final date while India will need to win by a bigger margin than India, against Malaysia on Saturday.BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
RESULTS (Thursday, 26 Oct)
Australia 4 India 3
Malaysia 18 USA 0
Britain 3 Japan 1
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