Kirkham: We've hit form at perfect time

GLENN KIRKHAM says Britain's hockey team has taken a massive leap towards making the semi-finals for the first time in 16 years after their thumping 4-2 victory over Pakistan.

_{MONARCH OF THE GLENN: GB ace Kirkham leads the way against Pakistan}

The 24-year-old provided two assists from penalty corners to help put Britain 3-0 up at halftime but it was a very different story after the break as Pakistan hit two quickfire goals.

Britain had squandered a three-goal lead against the same opposition in the Setanta Trophy weeks earlier but lightning didn't strike twice as Matt Daly sealed the win late on.

And a delighted Kirkham insists Britain's campaign is up and running ahead of Wednesday's clash against two-time champions the Netherlands.

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He said: ""This was a must-win game for us, and really make or break our tournament so hopefully that's going to set us on our way, and we will get a good performance against the Netherlands.

"We were 3-0 up at half time but we've been there before, only a few weeks ago in the Setanta Trophy they came back to 3-3.

"So obviously when it went 3-1 then 3-2 we got a little bit jittery and going down to ten men didn't help as well."

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Goals from James Tindall, Rob Moore and Ashley Jackson set Britain on their way before skipper Ben Hawes was yellow carded after the break.

Shakeel Abbasi and Muhammad Waqas struck to reduce the deficit but Britain held on.

And after two months of full-time preparation going into the tournament, East Grinstead star Kirkham was pleased to finally get the Olympics under way.

He added: "But for our first proper match in these kinds of temperatures and conditions, I thought we did pretty well physically, especially to come round in the end to get that fourth goal and give ourselves a bit of a cushion.

"It seems like quite a long time we've been out here now, both in Macau and Beijing just waiting around to get started, so it's really good to get going.

"Looking on world rankings, you can see the Netherlands should be coming out on top, but in this kind of environment you never know what's going to happen."

DANIEL SCHOFIELD in Beijing