It would have taken courage beyond the call of duty to offer a dejected Terry Gregg sympathy after Ireland's 1-0 defeat by India yesterday at the Harare Hockey Stadium. The Irish coach wasn't in the mood for "hard lucks" - in fact his demeanour suggested he would prefer to be back at work in his Belfast dental surgery.

At times pulling teeth must seem an easier task than getting goals out of this Irish team. In what was the opening match of the World Cup qualifying tournament they won eight short corners and created a number of clear scoring chances from play but failed to convert a single opportunity.

The stylish Indian team, whose reputation in women's world hockey is growing by the year, won just five corners in the course of the 70 minutes but it was from the last, three minutes from time, that they snatched the winner when Sandeep Kaur's perfectly struck shot flew past Alison Vance.

"Another Irish disaster" was Gregg's description of the goal which came at a time when Ireland were pressing for victory in a match they could have, and probably should have, won.

They dominated much of the first half, controlling midfield through Jeanette Turner and Sarah Kelleher, while at the back Julie Stewart repeatedly brought an abrupt end to the mazy runs of India's outstanding player, Pritam Thakran.

Jenny Burke squandered the first of her team's chances in the 12th minute when Carol Devine's pass set her up in front of goal but her shot was smothered by the Indian goalkeeper Helen Innocent. The Hermes striker almost atoned for that miss five minutes before the break but her shot from a short corner was brilliantly deflected wide by Innocent.

By now the temperatures had hit 80 degrees (if you subtract the members of the Marimba band, 80 wasn't far off the disappointing attendance at the first game of the tournament) and India took advantage of a flagging Irish team to control the opening 15 minutes of the second half. Despite their possession, however, they failed to get a meaningful shot on goal until Kaur's 67th minute winner.

More grief was to come for the deflated Irish team. With just one minute to go they won a short corner which, after being switched left by Burke, set up an unmarked Rachael Kohler with a chance to equalise. The opportunity went abegging - Innocent again saving her team - and, unless they beat South Africa today, with it may go Ireland's hopes of qualifying for next May's World Cup finals in Utrecht.

"It's not a case of excuses," said a frustrated Gregg after the match. "It's a case of not producing the goods and like it or lump we're going to have to do it against South Africa - we've chosen to do it the hard way. Sympathy is no good to us now, we have to make up for it tomorrow or else fail. Fail. There's no way out of that." Will it be hard to pick the players up for the match against South Africa? "Yes it will but they have no choice now, they either pick themselves up or say it was a waste of time coming. Our problem now is getting out of the bottom four. I think we're looking at a disaster, we might be the worst team in the group."

Gregg could have done with a bit of "picking up" himself yesterday evening.

In the day's second Pool A match Canada came from a goal down to draw 1-1 with England. Jane Smith opened the scoring in the 15th minute for the English who, like Ireland, were guilty of wasting a string of chances. Canadian captain Nicola Colaco equalised one minute into the second half. Ireland play England on Monday evening and Canada on Wednesday afternoon.

Ireland: A Vance; K Humphreys, A Thompson, J Stewart, C Craig, R Kohler, J Turner (capt), S Kelleher, C Devine, J Burke, M Logue. Subs: L McVicker, C McMahon.

India: H Innocent: S Kaur, S Bala (capt), M Xalxo, S Gusain, S Tete, N Khullar, M Kaur, P Thakran, K Dalal, J Kullu. Subs: S Waikhom, F Ekka.

Umpires: A Dale (Zimbabwe), M Van Gemert (Holland).

World Cup Qualifying Tournament (Harare) - Pool A: Ireland 0, India 1 (S Kaur); England 1 (J Smith), Canada 1 (N Colaco). Today's matches (Irish times) - Pool B: Spain v Russia, 1.0; Scotland v Zimbabwe, 3.0. Pool A: India v England, 5.0; Ireland v South Africa, 7.0.