England 2 China 2
England were denied a win in their opening game of the World Cup in Bhubaneswar, India, by a late goal from China.
Liam Ansell thought he had sewn up victory with a late strike as the forward showed great tenacity to rob the ball off a defender in the circle before producing an inch-perfect finish.
That came after Mark Gleghorne equalised at the end of the first quarter, following a fine solo goal from Guo Xiaoping that gave the world No 17 side the early lead.
But Du Talake struck with just over a minute to go, sneaking a corner past Harry Gibson and Barry Middleton to secure the draw.
China took a surprise lead in the fifth minute as Guo showed fantastic hand speed with a mazy run down the left before lifting the ball over George Pinner.
That came shortly after Zach Wallace had forced Wang Caiyu into a save as the midfielder caused the Chinese defence plenty of problems on his World Cup debut.
England pressed further in the second quarter, with Ansell seeing a fierce strike blocked while a diving Middleton couldn’t quite turn in Luke Taylor’s corner.
The chances kept coming in the third quarter, but England still couldn’t find their second as Middleton mis-hit a shot on the turn wide, Harry Martin fired over the bar and Dave Condon was denied by Wang’s face after a great run down the right.
