Lily Owsley admitted it was a relief to come away with a point after England opened their Women's Hockey World Cup campaign with a draw against India.
The 23-year-old saved England’s blushes as her late equaliser ensured the hosts avoided defeat in their first group game at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in London.
She popped up to nudge Ellie Watton’s shot home with just seven minutes left on the clock after India had taken the lead through Neha Goyal just before half-time.
Her goal meant the Commonwealth Games bronze medallists grabbed a valuable point and Owsley, who missed the triumph on the Gold Coast with a broken hand, said she was satisfied with the result.
“It’s always going to be interesting when we’ve played a side like that a few times already this year, but it’s a point on the board and we’ll take that,” she said.
A huge crowd of 10,500 filled Lee Valley, providing an incredible atmosphere, and captain Alex Danson was quick to take the positives from England’s Pool B opener.
“We’re off and running and it was a fantastic atmosphere and when you look around you see how far our sport has come,” she said.
“We feel incredibly privileged to be the lucky ones who get to play at a home World Cup, but we are incredibly professional, we are very well prepared.
“We are delighted to come back from 1-0 down and we’ve got our tournament up and running. We just need to go forwards now and tidy up some things here and there.”
Ranked second in the world and boasting multiple Olympic champions, England got off to a strong start against India and forced a penalty corner in the opening minute.
The ball was flicked back to Giselle Ansley, one of eight Rio 2016 gold medallists in the squad, but her shot was blocked by the visitors as the defence cleared the danger.
But despite a promising start from England, they soon found themselves under sustained pressure from India, who managed to work several shots on goal.
England responded with another penalty corner following a magnificent crossfield pass from Grace Balsdon, but they were unable to capitalise and soon found their own goal under threat again.
A stray pass from Ansley allowed India to come close to opening the scoring. England’s defence remained steadfast, though, and the first quarter finished 0-0.
The second quarter saw England come out firing and after excellent interplay ended in a fifth penalty corner, Suzy Petty was denied by a diving save from India Goalkeeper Savita.
But it was India, against the run of play, who broke the deadlock as Goyal pounced to guide the ball past Maddie Hinch, with England also losing their referral after contesting the goal.
India remained a goal to the good at the half-time break and knowing they needed to find an equaliser, the hosts upped their intensity going into the third quarter.
Sophie Bray came closest to getting England back on level terms, but she was unable to connect cleanly with the reverse hit as the final 15 minutes approached.
England came flying out the traps at the start of the fourth quarter and skipper Danson saw her deflection go wide, before back-to-back penalty corners proved fruitless.
With one last throw of the dice, England chucked everything at India in the final ten minutes and finally made the breakthrough when Owsley converted following another penalty corner. Sportsbeat 2018