1st Match Hockey World Cup London 2018 (W)

Hockey World Cup London 

2018 (W)

ENG V IND ( POOL B )

ENG Draw With IND

in

HockeyWorld Cup 2018

ENG             1-1          IND

v England fought back to seal a late 1-1 draw against India in their opening match of the Women's Hockey World Cup in London.

v Neha Goyal scored the first goal of the match in the 25th minute while Lily Owsley scored the equalizer for England in the 53rd minute.

England threw everything forward after Neha Goyal's first-half goal, and it looked as though the hosts were set for a shock defeat as India survived a number of penalties.

But with seven minutes left on the clock, Lily Owsley struck low from close range after an Indian clearance was blocked to secure a vital draw.

England had beaten India 6-0 in their bronze medal play-off at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games three months ago.

And there were hopes they might repeat the feet in a strong start in which Giselle Ansley's first minute flick from a penalty corner was well saved by Savita Punia.

India took the lead against the run of play when the ball threaded its way through a crowded goal-mouth and Goyal tucked it home at the far post.

England dominated from the start of the second period but both Grace Balsdon and Suzy Perry were denied by Punia before Owsley struck.

England coach Danny Kerry said: "I think as we are competitive people we can become fixated with the result and we are probably disappointed with it but focusing on the level of performance particularly in that second half we absolutely dominated and I can't ask for more.

"We will look hard at the detail around our penalty corners which were the difference today. We had nine they had none. The atmosphere was amazing, you could really feel the crowd getting being us in that second half."

England are set to continue their campaign in Group B against the United States on Wednesday night.

Ireland marked their first appearance in a World Cup finals since 2002 with a stunning 3-1 win over the United States.

Deidre Duke opened the scoring for Ireland after just four minutes and Shirley McCay added a quick second before Margaux Paolino pulled one back for the US.