Goals in each half from Reading's Alex Danson and Nicola White made the difference for England against a determined Wales outfit at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre.

England lost midfielder Georgie Twigg to injury inside the first minute before Danson’s 29th minute shot from the edge of the circle put them ahead.

And White finally sealed the points seven minutes from time with a sliding finish from a penalty corner to give England victory ahead of Sunday’s second group game against Malaysia.

Reading Hockey Club's Kate Richardson-Walsh, England Women’s captain, said: "With tournament hockey nobody remembers what the scoreline was in the end, they just remember how many points you had on the table so I’m really happy to get the win.

“Coming on the back of a disappointing World Cup, we just want to build some momentum and we know how important winning your first game is. Second-half we did play some better stuff and if we can build on that I think we can be right in it.”

Danny Kerry, England Women’s head coach added: “To win and play not as well as we can was good. The second half was much better, it was just about trying to play with more brains and trying to keep the ball in bigger pieces of space.

“Wales were defending deep and with real tenacity so it was just ensuring we didn’t play into the hands of that.

“We did that better for periods in the second half but we need to make sure we do it for the full 70 minutes. That’s what we need to work on ahead of playing Malaysia.”