![](\"images\/22-07-18-haki.jpg\")
\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n~ Neha Goyal (25′) took the lead for India but Lily Owsley (54′) equalised for the hosts to earn a draw ~<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n London (England),\u00a021 July 2018:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0The Indian Women’s Hockey Team started off their\u00a0Vitality Hockey Women’s World Cup London 2018 campaign with a 1-1 draw\u00a0against World No. 2 England in\u00a0their opening match of Pool B here\u00a0at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre. The match saw the Indian team take the lead in the 25th minute through Neha Goyal, but England’s constant pressure towards the end of the match saw them earn an equaliser in the 54th minute through Lily Owsley.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It was a difficult start to the match for the Indian team as\u00a0the hosts looked to attack them in front of a packed stadium, winning a Penalty Corner in the opening minute. However, the resulting\u00a0drag-flick was<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>brilliantly saved<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>by the Indian Goalkeeper Savita, and cleared away by India’s defenders. The next few minutes saw India dominate possession and create a\u00a0couple of circle entries, but could not take a shot at goal.\u00a0In the 8th minute, Hannah Martin won England’s second Penalty\u00a0Corner off the foot<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>of<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>an\u00a0Indian defender, but\u00a0the\u00a0resulting drag-flick was scuffed. World No. 10\u00a0India also tried to create pressure in the next couple of minutes with the English defenders misplacing their passes and losing possession, but neither team could take the lead in the opening quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The second quarter saw a similar story for both the teams as\u00a0England\u00a0dominated the first few minutes, winning\u00a0themselves three Penalty Corners in the first ten minutes. But Indian Goalkeeper Savita made<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>brilliant<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>reflex saves on all three occasions to deny the hosts any chance of taking the lead. The Indian team looked content on absorbing the pressure, and were looking to attack the English on the counter. India’s strategy worked for them in the 25th minute when India’s pressing in the attacking half helped them regain possession and convert it into a goal as Nikki Pradhan’s ball into the striking circle was deflected off an English foot, and onto Navjot Kaur, whose injection towards the goal was deflected into the back of the net by Neha Goyal\u00a0to give India an important lead.\u00a0Hosts England tried to create chances towards the end of the second quarter, but India’s defence made sure that they took their one-goal lead into the half-time break.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The third quarter was dominated by the hosts as they looked to find the equaliser. The World No. 2 side made 11 circle entries in the third period, but\u00a0could only take three shots, which were well kept out by a resolute Indian defence. It was the last quarter where England dominated possession and tested India’s nerves through some strong forward play. The 48th minute saw India’s\u00a0Sunita Lakra deny England again from their sixth PC as she made a\u00a0save on the line. However, the hosts were awarded another PC but\u00a0India’s defence managed to win a free-hit after Savita had made a<\/span>nother<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>save off Grace Balsdon’s shot.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the 52nd minute, India had a chance to extend their lead as their Forward\u00a0Lalremsiami was found inside the striking circle by Neha Goyal’s pass but the young striker failed to deflect the ball onto the target as England continued to attack. In the 54th minute, England won back-to-back<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>PCs and<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the second one was put into the back of the net by Lily Owsley to bring the scores level at 1-1. The final few moments of the\u00a0match saw both the teams look for a winner, but a good performance from the defenders saw both teams settle for a draw.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On\u00a0July 26<\/span><\/span>, the\u00a0Indian Women’s Hockey team will take on Ireland at 18.30 hours (IST).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 ~ Neha Goyal (25′) took the lead for India but Lily Owsley (54′) equalised for the hosts to earn a draw ~ \u00a0 London (England),\u00a021 July 2018:\u00a0The Indian Women’s Hockey Team started off their\u00a0Vitality Hockey Women’s World Cup London 2018 campaign with a 1-1 draw\u00a0against World No. 2 England in\u00a0their opening match of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shasakprashasak.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}