By Melissa Woods
Australia breathed a sigh of relief when a last-quarter surge secured a 2-1 win over Great Britain in their Olympic men's hockey pool match.
The world No.1 Kookaburras booked their second win of the tournament and moved to third in their pool, with Spain and Belgium the joint leaders.
Daniel Beale of Australia stretches for the ball during the men's pool A match between Great Britain and Australia.Credit: Mark Kolbe
Australia coach Graham Reid said they'd worked furiously in the past 48 hours following disappointing losses to Belgium and Spain.
"Really relieved is the big feeling," Reid said.
"Tonight was a very good performance as Great Britain are a world class team in this competition." The Australians dominated the Brits but were frustrated again by their inability to find the back of the net, with 17 shots on goal to their opponent's eight.
Australia started well, with Daniel Beale and Blake Govers both unlucky in the opening quarter thanks to some scrambling defence.
Finally, after two and a half games and over three hours of hockey Aran Zalewski broke the drought.
Midway through the final quarter Zalewski collected the spoils thanks to some handy lead-up work by Simon Orchard and Beale.
Beale and Orchard also had a hand in the second goal with five minutes remaining.
The Australians took advantage of a massive numerical advantage with Jake Whetton getting the last touch across the line.
Ashley Jackson grabbed a consolation goal for the Brits with just over two minutes remaining.
Australia next plays winless Brazil, who have conceded 37 goals so far and Reid said his team could effectively bank that win and start looking ahead to the playoffs, with the top four teams advancing.
"The back-to-back losses that we've had in the cauldron of the Olympics makes people jumpy and that's where we got to," he said.
"We've managed to turn the ship around and now we have to keep going."