Skipper Stephan Veen grabbed two late second-half goals as Olympic and World champions Holland began their title defence with a 4-2 win over battling Great Britain in the State Hockey Centre.

Britain twice came from behind to level the scores and the outcome might have been different had Calum Giles not missed a 47th-minute penalty that would have given his side a 3-2 lead.

In front of a crowd of nearly 15,000, and watched by HRH Princess Anne, British number one tennis player Tim Henman and Crown Prince Willem Alexander of the Netherlands, it was Holland's goalscoring hero Teun de Nooijer, who fired his side ahead in the ninth minute. Released by Remco van Wijk, he powered a shot past Simon Mason in the British goal.

Six minutes later, Mark Pearn equalised when he netted the rebound from Britain's first penalty corner from close range.

Eight minutes after the restart, Jacques Brinkman, Holland's most capped player, restored his team's lead when he forced home the rebound from a corner, but Britain hit back immediately.

Jimmy Wallis made it 2-2 in the 46th minute with a corner rebound from Craig Parnham's shot and, following a deliberate foul by Holland's goalkeeper, Giles squandered a marvellous opportunity to put Britain ahead only for Ronald Jansen to move smartly to his left to save his effort from the penalty spot.

The Dutch regained control to put pressure on Britain with Veen diving to glance in a 50th-minute corner and he was on target a minute from time when he hammered the ball in after finding space at the top of the circle.

Veen said: "Britain played really well but we just had a better game today."

Great Britain captain Jon Wyatt said: "We had a chance at 3-2 and could easily have equalised."

Giles was left rueing his miss after the game: "I didn't quite catch it and didn't put it in the corner," sighed Giles. "I'm fully aware it cost us the game."

Giles, who had never missed from the penalty spot in an international before, aims to take his frustration out on Pakistan in Britain's next match on Monday.

He added: "I've been there before and now I have to put it right and go out and score some goals against Pakistan."

Team coach Barry Dancer admitted the missed penalty had been the turning point of the game but was delighted with the spirit his side showed in pushing the Dutch all the way.

"We went very close but not close enough," said Dancer. "We failed to grasp the match when we had the opportunity.

"I thought we played with a lot of courage in the midfield and up front and our composure on the ball was much improved.

"The penalty stroke was probably the turning point, along with David Hacker's temporary suspension, and together those events affected the outcome of the game.

"But we showed a lot of character to come back twice and it shows how far we've come."