ATHENS, 25 August - Great Britain will meet South Africa in a playoff for ninth and 10th place in the Olympic Hockey tournament after beating Argentina 4-1 at the Olympic Hockey Centre.

After four straight defeats in the Pool stages, Great Britain was keen to get off to a good start and when Barry MIDDLETON broke in to Argentina's circle in the opening minutes, it looked like its fans might have something more positive to cheer about. However, his off balance flick was easily saved by goalkeeper Pablo MOREIRA (ARG).

Argentina then enjoyed a period of pressure, although it did not make the most of a collection of free hits around the Great Britain circle.

The pressure was evident in Great Britain's game and little mistakes threatened to undermine its bid to register its second tournament victory. It had to rely on goalkeeper Simon MASON in the 20th minute to save a Jorge LOMBI (ARG) flick low to his right.

When it came, Great Britain's opening goal was against the run of play. MIDDLETON did well to intercept a pass in midfield and fed Jimmy WALLIS on the left, his shot was saved, but created confusion in the Argentina circle which Rob MOORE made the most of, seeing his narrow cut back find the goal off the back of the goalkeeper's pads.

Great Britain settled in to its game after that and Mark PEARN went close with a couple of sharp opportunities, before Tom BERTRAM fired in a rebound from his own penalty corner to make the score 2-0 at half time.

Great Britain started the second half positively with MOORE firing just over in the first few seconds.

Only two minutes later the score was 3-0, when Danny HALL received a superb long pass from BERTRAM at the top of the circle and steered it between the goalkeeper's legs.

A three-goal lead wasn't something Great Britain had enjoyed at any stage of the tournament, but it brought confidence and both PEARN and HALL had good chances to increase the lead.

Some squabbling got in to the match in the 46th minute when German OROZCO (ARG) and Niall STOTT (GBR) were both yellow carded for a minor incident.

The temporary suspensions had a greater effect on Great Britain, as Argentina spent more and more time attacking and put a lot more pressure on Great Britain's circle, earning several penalty corners, none of which it was able to convert.

Argentina eventually earned its reward from a long corner in the 63rd minute. A hit in from the left took a deflection, hit the base of the post and spilled in to the middle of the goal where Carlos RETEGUI was on hand to score his first goal of the tournament on 64 minutes.

With a few minutes remaining Argentina sensed an unlikely comeback, but Great Britain responded immediately, when PEARN found some space at the top of Argentina's circle and slipped the ball past the goalkeeper to make the final score 4-1.

The result means that Great Britain now faces South Africa in a playoff for ninth and 10th place at 11:30 on Friday, 27 August, while Argentina faces Egypt for the tournament's wooden spoon at 09:00 on the same day.