“It was not easy. It may look simple on screen, but we struggled a lot. Still, I’m very proud of what we have achieved together as a group. The team showed exactly the character we wanted. We worked really hard to get here, and we came with a purpose,” said Andrews.

“Bam Khatoon were challenging, but we managed to overcome them. One match down, and there are two more ahead of us – and we want to take it one game at a time.

“So yes, we’re happy with what we’ve achieved so far but there are still two more games for us to perform better and to see where we can improve.”

Uzbekistan’s PFC Nasaf showed they are not just making up the numbers in Group B after producing a combative performance to hold Wuhan Jiangda 1-1.

Despite the hosts playing without Wang Shuang, Yao Wei and Wu Haiyan, the task for Nasaf was no less difficult as they went behind to Tang Han’s strike in the 20th minute.

Having exited the competition in the Preliminary Stage last season, Nasaf showed courage to take the game to Wuhan Jiangda with Nilufar Kudratova levelling the scores just before half-time, and the captain was proud with how her side fought back.

“As we expected, the match was very hard because it was against the defending champions,” said Kudratova. “We played for a win but I think a draw isn’t bad either.

“I would like to thank my teammates for the result because we conceded early but showed character to come back and get a point against the champions.”