England fight back for nervous draw against India as fans descend on London for women's hockey World Cup

At an unimaginative north London location 32 years ago, hockey set the English public’s pulses running for perhaps the first time. England hosted the 1986 men’s World Cup, finished runners-up and then followed it up with Olympic gold in Seoul gold two years later.

During that balmy October, 90,000 spectators passed through the turnstiles at a dressed up stadium in Willesden as hockey relegated Match of the Day to the sidelines with Sean Kerly and company’s tournament run.

Now, 100,000 tickets had been sold before Germany and South Africa even opened proceedings on Saturday at the first women’s World Cup to be held on home soil. Welcome to the revolution.

There were shades of London 2012 on show, too. The “smurf turf” pink and blue surroundings of the old Riverside Stadium on the Olympic Park, where Great Britain won bronze, have been replaced by the title sponsors’ equally colourful branding.

In the stands, clubs from Cannock down to Canterbury were well represented at the home of English hockey, scene of one of the great comebacks when England won the 2015 EuroHockey final against the fearsome Dutch after a dramatic shoot-out.

We all know what happened in Rio the following summer, yet domestic match attendances pale into comparison to the appetite of the international game.

After the Red Arrows fly past ahead of second-ranked England’s pool clash against India, there was palpable expectation of starting with a win against the world No 10 side.

Yet it was far from easy for the hosts in an entertaining 1-1 draw which saw domination aplenty but without the killer blow needed to make their second game on Wednesday against the United States a less-pressured one.

Danny Kerry’s side started off at a tentative yet controlled pace before India took a surprise lead five minutes before half-time, Neha Goyal’s close-range touch in a circle melee coming completely against the run of play.

If England have pressure in winning on home soil, spare a though for India’s expectant nation eyeing the team’s progression; their coach, Dutchman Sjoerd Marijne, leaving his role with India men after the Commonwealth Games to oversee the women, 10 of whom were making their World Cup debuts.

As the fourth quarter deepened they were close to a major upset, Marijne content to sit his team back as England failed to exploit plentiful circle penetration (34 in all to India’s four).

Kerry said afterwards that England’s second-half performance made India “look like statues”, while goalkeeper Maddie Hinch was largely that until England replaced her with a kicking back with eight minutes left.

The ploy seemed to work as Lily Owsley, who has netted key goals in European and Olympic finals, angled a decisive touch to stave off another World Cup opening defeat following their dispiriting 2014 campaign in The Hague.

So, England are up and running, but they were badly let down again by their old foe: penalty corners.

There is a common perception in women’s hockey that winning penalty corners is not as important as in the men’s game, with defences becoming tighter and less of a “sling” on the modern sticks for the corner strikers. Yet if England have aspirations of a first World Cup title, they will have to do better than their nine penalty corner attempts on Saturday.

At April’s Commonwealth Games they notched four from 45 attempts on the Gold Coast, although at least Owsley’s goal did come courtesy of a penalty corner.

“No teams at the moment are really scoring them,” admitted Kerry. “It’s becoming a feature of the game which is becoming quite dull. But I am disappointed with nine penalty corners.”

At the final whistle, half the England side – eight of whom did not play at the last World Cup in front of 15,000 passionate Oranje – bent over in disappointment.

“We dominated possession, we had our corners and we had our chances,” said midfielder Susannah Townsend. “If you look at our second half, we are really pleased with how we played.

“It’s fine lines but it’s by no means a disaster. We’ve got a point and we’re in the tournament.”

Meanwhile, the Dutch start their title defence against Korea on Sunday evening, with captain Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel admitting that damaging past defeats against the host nation have long since waned.

“After Rio, England changed a lot and it’s the same for us,” she said. “We can keep talking about it but we have youngsters now. They didn’t feel it and play that game. Now it’s just a match against England and for us it’s a little bit more.”

Having shaken off their opening-day nerves here, another global final against the Dutch is far from England’s minds.