England survived a missed penalty stroke against New Zealand to open their Commonwealth Games men's field hockey campaign with a tough 4-3 win today.

Lacklustre India, however, dropped two valuable points after being held to a 1-1 draw by inspired Malaysia in group B.

The Indians, who play arch-rivals Pakistan next on Saturday and also have the dangerous South Africa in their group, were hoping to gain three full points against the Malaysians.

Instead, they were lucky to get one after being dominated through the match by the gutsy Malaysians, who took advantage of the depleted Indian defence.

England were cruising in their group A match when they led New Zealand 3-1 midway through the second half, but the Kiwis refused to give up.

Penalty corner expert Hayden Shaw reduced the margin in the 51st minute to set off a New Zealand offensive against the English defence.

Mathew Daly, however, scored his second goal to put England 4-2 ahead before Blair Hopping earned a consolation goal for the Kiwis in the final minute.

Malaysia next have an easy outing against unfancied Trinidad on Saturday.