FIH Pro League: England men beat France while women lose to China as hockey crowds return
- Published
David Goodfield scored England's opening goal
England's men won a nine-goal thriller against France, while the women's side lost a shootout to China in the first FIH Pro League matches in front of home supporters for 931 days.
The men's team pulled off a late comeback in a 5-4 victory.
Matt Ramshaw and Sam Ward both hit two goals with David Goodfield also on the scoresheet.
Meanwhile, the women's side conceded an equaliser against China in the dying seconds and lost the shootout 4-3.
Fans returned to the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre after more than two years away because of the pandemic, and they saw England's men get off to a flying start.
The hosts were 2-0 up after eight minutes, but France levelled the scores before half-time thanks to goals from Victor Charlet and Gaspard Baumgarten.
England poked themselves ahead before Baumgarten sealed a hat-trick to put France in the lead for the first time. But Ramshaw scored for England and a minute from full-time Ward fired his side to victory to leave them fifth in the table.
It was a different story in the women's game as they had to wait for their opening goal, Tessa Howard pouncing in the 39th minute, but China equalised in the last play as Bingfeng Gu scored from a penalty corner.
It sent the game to a shootout in which Hannah Martin and Grace Balsdon missed for England, while China scored all their efforts.
China came away with two points, their first of the league season, and England took one, which leaves them in sixth place.
"We're learning. The last five minutes of the game we didn't do all the details we wanted from it," England women's coach David Ralph told BT Sport.
"I think we created many opportunities to win the game so it's about working out how [we capitalise on them]."
Both sides will play the same opponents again on Sunday.
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