KARACHI, Dec 13: Absence of penalty corner striker Sohail Abbas and goalkeeper Ahmad Alam could not stop Pakistan Seniors from emerging as victors in the triangular hockey series after a 3-1 win over Malaysia on Saturday.

The senior side, which defeated Juniors 4-2 and 3-0 earlier, certainly seems to be somewhat different outfit under new coach Roelant Oltmans and scored all the goals in the first half at Hockey Club of Pakistan.

Although Sohail and midfielder Waseem Ahmad, who were nominated for FIH best player of the year award, were not on the bench, home side were not unimpressive against Malaysia.

Malaysian skipper Kuhan Shanmuganathan broke the 14-minute stalemate when he converted on the first penalty corner to get the solitary goal for his side.

In retaliation, Pakistan Seniors launched an attack the very next minute and forced their first of the six short corners that saw Shakeel Abbasi scoring off a rebound.

Pakistan Seniors, although missed number of sitters and could convert just once off six penalty corners, depended on attack and netted two field goals.

Likewise, Ahmad’s absence did not make much of a difference as young goalkeeper Salman Akbar reminded the selectors there are replacements when he brought off a splendid diving save on a short corner.

Substitute Shakeel caught the Malaysian goalkeeper Roslan bin Jamaluddin and the defenders napping, doubling the ascendancy with an opportunist strike, scooping the ball up into the right corner of the cage in the 29th minute.

The game remained stopped for four minutes as the Malaysian players surrounded umpire Chowdhry Tanveer Arshad protesting on his decision.

“That player (Kuhan) has a habit of misbehaving and pressurising the umpires. It is their (Malaysians) tactics. It was a clear-cut goal. There was nothing wrong with it, therefore, I showed Kuhan a green card,” Tanveer said.

Malaysia went further 3-1 down with Salim Khalid hammering home off a rebound from Jamaluddin three minutes before the end of first session.

Pakistan Seniors could have easily outclassed the tourists with a bigger margin but shoddy finishing, especially by Shabbir, prevented them from increasing the lead after resumption.

Mohammad Qasim who replaced Salman after the change of ends did not see much activity at his end as Pakistan mounted pressure after lemons.

Kashif Jawwad squandered a chance after receiving a right side cross four minutes into second half.

Malaysia remained unimpressive yet in the second period as Ismail bin Abu could not control the ball but attempted only to see his weak try going wide off target.

Shabbir, who was rested by Oltmans again came into the field but the forward again wasted a cross in the 50th minute. Rehan, who was also fielded after some rest in place of Salim, tried but was denied by Jamaluddin.

During the sixth penalty corner Ghazanfar Ali was given a green for playing even after a whistle by umpire Zulfiqar Hussain for a dangerous foul in the 56th minute.

The greenshirts were kept at bay by Jamaluddin when they made inroads through Mudassir Ali in the 59th minute. Shabbir, who had consistently missed golden opportunities in the series, again came close to pull another for the home side but his wild try went through the back-line with only Jamaluddin at guard.

Jamaluddin blocked another Mudassir hit in the 66th minute to keep the score at 3-1.

Malaysia play a friendly match on their request against Pakistan Seniors on Sunday at 10.00am. They are scheduled to fly to Spain Sunday midnight.

Pakistan Seniors: Kashif Jawwad, Zeeshan Ashraf, Ghazanfar Ali, Ali Raza, Rehan Butt, Salman Akbar, Mohammad Saqlain, Dilawar Hussain, Shabbir Hussain, Salim Khalid.

Malaysia: Roslan bin Jamaluddin, Chua Boon Huat, Logan Raj, Kuhan Shanmuganathan, Gobinathan, Mohd Sukri, Talol Roslle bin Muhamed, Keevan Raj, Ismail bin Abu, Azlan bin Misron, Norzalan bin Rahim.