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Your support makes all the difference.Denise Marston-Smith, at the start of what promises to be a long international career, is unlikely to score many more crucial goals than she did on Saturday in the 60th minute against India here which gave England a narrow 1- 0 win to put them second behind South Africa at the top of Pool A of their World Cup qualifier.
England, as in their opening game, promised much, with strong running from Jane Sixsmith and Tina Cullen but were unable to convert the many chances they created. Indeed, India's 20 year old goalkeeper, Helen Mary Innocent, looked unbeatable as she blocked reverse sweeps from Cullen before Marston-Smith outwitted her at England's fourth penalty corner. England's captain, Mandy Davies, admitted that the corner was not as planned but they all count.
While England were struggling to beat India, Scotland, with aggressive, attacking hockey, were totting up nine without reply against Zimbabwe but, to be fair, the host side are out of their depth in this tournament. Rhona Simpson, with four goals, and Sue MacDonald, with a couple, enjoyed themselves in a game dominated by Scotland's captain, Pauline Robertson.
Yesterday the Chinese went two better than the Scots when they beat Zimbabwe 11-0 in a game which saw the local goalkeeper, Nicky Du Toit, almost certainly securing herself the goalkeeper of the tournament award in spite of already conceding 20 goals.
The first game yesterday in England's pool brought the surprise 4-2 defeat of Canada by Japan.
While England rested yesterday before their game against Ireland tonight, Scotland were again in action, this time facing much more difficult opposition in Russia, to whom they lost 1-0 after Elena Polovkova scored from a rebound.
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