Malaysia Under-21 was able to turn around its first-up 8-0 drubbing to the Junior Black Sticks to draw the second game of the four-game test series 2-2 at the McMillan Hockey Turf in Dunedin.
The Junior Black sticks started off in the best possible way, with Jared Jones gathering a through ball in the circle and getting past the goalie in the sixth minute.
Isaac Staples almost made it a second goal in as many minutes but was unable to find the target.
Mistakes plagued both teams as they played at a great pace, pushing hard to get past the opposition's defence.
Malaysia came close to scoring several times, but it took its third penalty corner before it was able to score its first goal of the series, with Nor Faez's drag flick hitting the back of the net in the 29th minute.
The Junior Black sticks had chances to take the lead again but simple mistakes were starting to cost them. The half time score was 1-1.
Malaysia came out in the second spell firing, scoring the first goal of the half when Faez grabbed his second goal with another drag flick, giving Malaysia the lead 2-1.
The Junior Black sticks were struggling to gain any momentum and were guilty of letting simple mistakes creep in to their game.
Out of the mistakes, Jones was able to find the back of the net to take the score to 2-2.
The goal provided the Junior Black sticks with a boost and, for the first time in the half, found themselves on top of the Malaysians.
Both teams tried desperately in the last 10 minutes to take the lead, but in the end no team was able to break the deadlock, with the game ending 2-2.
• Scorers: New Zealand Under-21 (Jared Jones 2), Malaysia Under-21 2 (Nor Faez 2).
