Just over 12 minutes remained in this first Pool A match at the newly refurbished Wagener Stadium as both teams were ordered from the field in teeming rain on safety grounds as a huge storm broke over their heads.

By then, however, Welten - a member of the side narrowly beaten to the Olympic title by Great Britain last summer in Rio - had made the breakthrough in the 25th minute from her side’s second penalty corner, diving to deflect Ireen van den Assem’s powerful push wide of the right post past Maria Ruiz in the Spanish goal.

Soon after, Berta Bonastre departed with a nasty facial injury as an inviting Spanish attack ended with a dangerous high ball.

On the restart, Welten again terrorised the Spanish defence, hitting the left baseline before pushing into the centre. 

Xan de Waard could not quite grasp the chance but the ball fell for Frederique Matla to pop home and the Dutch carried their 2-0 lead at half-time.

After the break, Maria Tost’s trickery forged Spain’s best chance, but Veenendaal dealt with the shot with reasonable comfort in the 37th minute.

It was a warning shot as Spain pulled a goal back with the last action of the third quarter as Lola Riera smashed a ball into the circle and Begona Garcia got a crucial touch.

Umpire Laurine Delforge called a video review to check the timing and the verdict came back in Spain’s favour, lifting their hopes with 15 minutes to go.

But those hopes were short-lived as Welten again tore down the right wing. 

The first chance got lodged under Ruiz, but when it was cleared, Matla was again on hand to shoot in, making it 3-1 with 13 minutes to go.

Almost immediately the players left the pitch, and upon the belated resumption it took a brilliant save from Ruiz to prevent Caia van Maasakker making it 4-1.

Matla described it as “a weird game”, but said that her side managed the long break well.

“We were very cool actually [during the rain break]," she said.

"I thought it was the planes flying over a couple of times but we had little things like blankets to get warm and energy bars to help us focus again on the last 12 minutes.

“But this win gives us lots of confidence for our next match against Belgium.”

The European championships had kicked off in a party mood with celebrations to mark the opening of the new main stand at the Wagener Stadium.

The opening ceremony before the first match took place in front of a packed crowd and Dutch singer Do performing.

Former international players Nico Spits, Ties Kruize, Marjolein Bolhuis, Mijntje Donners and Sophie Polkamp where there to assist presenter Floris Evers during the opening.

The action resumes in the Wagener Stadium tomorrow with three more women’s games including the defending champions England’s Pool B match against Ireland and the first two men’s matches of the tournament in the evening, featuring Belgium against Austria and the Dutch against Spain.