Kiwis sink Malaysia in classification playoff

The New Zealand Under 21 Men have defeated Malaysia 3-1 in their 9th-12th classification playoff at the Junior World Cup in India.

After an early Oliver Logan strike, both sides were locked up 1-1 at halftime before late goals from Robbie Capizzi and Sam Lane sealed the result for the Kiwis.

The win sees New Zealand go up against South Africa with ninth place on the line at 1:30am on Sunday morning (NZ time), with live coverage on SKY Sport.

Man of the Match Robbie Capizzi said while his side missed out on the quarter finals, pride was still on the line as they look to finish on a positive note.

"We were pretty upset with the way we missed the quarters but our focus now is to finish as best as we can, and thats to make sure we take ninth place," he said.

"The first half wasnt great today but we picked it up in the second and we are stoked to win. We know were a quality team and are going to go hard in our final game."

New Zealand were first to score in the sixth minute with Nic Woods handing off a penalty corner variation for Logan to flick hard through the goalkeepers legs.

Malaysia responded close to halftime with Firdaus Omar netting low and in the corner from a penalty corner of their own.

Capizzi broke the deadlock in the 56th minute after deflecting a huge crash ball from Woods into the goal to give the Kiwis a crucial lead.

Sam Lane then delivered the knockout blow with 10 minutes remaining after receiving a penalty corner handoff and flicking into the top of the net.

NEW ZEALAND 3: (Oliver Logan, Robbie Capizzi, Sam Lane)

MALAYSIA 1: (Firdaus Omar)

Halftime: 1-1





- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Hockey NZ