Ashley Jackson produced a master-class to help propel Great Britain into a strong position in Group B with an all round display of class and guile. His two corner goals capped a performance around the field that blew Pakistan away, his turn of pace creating a string of problems.

James Tindall got Britain off to the flyer when Harry Martin got through down the right. His cross-shot was just about intercepted by Imran Shah but he could not get enough on it to escape the lurking Tindall who latched onto the loose ball and slammed home from a tight angle on the reverse. Jackson almost had a second soon after only to see Rashid Mehmood brilliantly take the ball out of the top corner in the fifth minute as the hosts started brilliantly.

The half’s main talking point, though, was a bizarre green card situation. Muhammad Waqas was green carded but Pakistan ended up with eleven still on the pitch that umpire Marcelo Servetto spotted soon after. Sohail Abbas was made to join Waqas on the sideline for the technical foul.

Pakistan did come back into the tie but GB extended their lead in pristine fashion. Jackson cut in from the right wing with an exquisite turn before laying off to Nick Catlin running diagonally to the right. His movement opened space to square into the path of Jonty Clarke to gleefully finish off. 

After an initial Pakistan burst, the second half proved a more languid affair as Jackson netted penalty corner flicks in the 50^th and 67^th minutes – the first was a low bullet the second hitting the rafters of the goal. Sohail Abbas did get one back, his 347^th international goal, in the final seconds but James Fair denied a couple of earlier efforts just after the break which could have put the game in the balance.

It elevates Britain to seven points; only second to Australia in the pool rankings on goal difference while Pakistan remain on four points in third place.

Ashley JACKSON (GBR), on Great Britain's performance: "It was very important for us after a nightmare performance against South Africa, but that was a much better performance, there was a lot more fight about us. It wasn't easy at all (today's match). We knew that if we slipped up here then it was going to be very difficult from here on in, so we were playing with a bit of fear, which always makes it a bit better."

James FAIR (GBR), on defending Sohail ABBAS' penalty corners: "He's has been around for so long and he's got a good flick. It was good at half-time to have kept them out, to have kept it clean."

On the difference between Great Britain's performance against Pakistan and South Africa: "We were obviously keen to win that game (against South Africa). We probably should have kept pushing it and stepped on the gas a little bit, they just proved they were dangerous. We knew we had to play better this game than we did in the last, but no team is going to be easy these Games, regardless of their ranking."

Waseem AHMAD (PAK), on why Great Britain won the match: "GB played better and they won their chances and we missed ours. Especially in the second half, we had one open chance and three penalty corners. If we had scored at that time, it might have been a close game. We didn't take our available chances and they made theirs. That was the difference in the game. There was a very good chance for us to reach the semifinals if we had won."

Sohail ABBAS (PAK), on the match: "Before the game started I thought it would be a very good game like 1-1 or 2-1, it's not like 3-1 or 4-1. I'm disapppointed by this. I think it was just a matter of winning chances. They got the chances and they scored. We did't score and that is it. They were tactically better than us today and we also got chances, but unfortunately we didn't captialise on them. Collectively and tactically they were better than us so we have to work on that. It was like the game was a bad dream. I wouild like us to learn a lot of things from this game especially our mistakes and we'll try not to repeat those in the coming games."