Malaysia Tigress head coach K. Dharmaraj came up with a noble ploy in the last two friendly matches against Ireland and Wales which he hopes will work towards his advantage in the Women’s Hockey World League Round 2 from Jan 14-22 at the Tun Razak Stadium. He paraded a mix squad of senior team, development and Under-18 squad players in the 3-0 defeat against the Irish on Tuesday but strengthened the side with more bite upfront and in defence against Wales with several seniors which the Tigress won 2-0 on Tuesday. Penalty corner expert Noraini Rashid and Wan Norfaiezah Mohd Sayuti scored the goals at the Tun Razak Stadium. Ranked at world No 21, Malaysian will be joined by world No 16 Ireland, Kazakhstan (33) and Hong Kong (37) in Group B whilst Italy, ranked world No 15, Thailand (31), Wales (32) and Singapore (43) are in Pool A.’ “The Irish were recording the match so I decided to keep our main players away from their eyes. We played a mix squad as we don’t want them to know of our actual strength. But I gave more seniors a chance against Wales and constantly rotated the players every five minutes,” said Dharmaraj. “Today match against Wales was a good assessment and I played most of the senior players unlike against Ireland on Monday,” said Dharmaraj. “I will watch the video of both matches and we will decide the final squad by Wednesday (11 January). I already have 15 players in my mind who have made the squad much earlier and it’s only a matter of deciding on the reserve goalkeeper and two more players,” he added. On the performance of the team against Wales, he observed: “We had quite a number of opportunities but could only score two goals and I am not happy with this. We need to put away the goals in every opportunity that comes our way. “This kind of performance will not help us go far against an opposition like Ireland and the players have to show remarkable improvement in the World League opening match against Hong Kong on Jan 14. Our target is to finish top in our group. Nothing less than that and we have to work towards it,” said Dharmaraj. Farah Ayuni Yahya, who was voted best goalkeeper at the 4^th Women Asian Champions Trophy in Singapore last December, will play a pivotal role in Malaysia’s campaign in the World League Round 2 while the reserve goalkeeper slot will be a toss between Mas Huzaimah Md Aziz and Siti Norhafiza. “Siti played a good game against Wales so it will be a tough choice for me between the two. But they are aware that we need to have the best on the field,” said Dharmaraj, adding that he will field several development squad players in the second friendly match against the Welsh on Thursday (12 January). “The match starts at 1.45pm and it will be too hot. I don’t want to risk anything here. It will also be a good learning experience for the development and Under-18 teams as well. Opportunities to play against European sides don’t come very often.” Dharmaraj believes the battle for supremacy in the Women World League Round 2 will only begin in the quarterfinals stage of the event. All the eight teams competing here, said Dharmaraj, will automatically qualify for the Jan 19 quarterfinals upon completion of their respective pool matches and the journey to the Hockey World League Semi-finals will depend on whom the Malaysians face in the last eight of the competition.