South Korea grabbed a much needed win over Britain at the Olympic men's hockey in Athens on Tuesday but fellow medal hopefuls Australia were held to a draw by Argentina, complicating their path to the semi-finals.
Australia are desperate to shed their "always the bridesmaid, never the bride" reputation by adding a first Olympic gold to their three silvers and three bronzes.
But they could not power past a very physical Argentine squad and had to settle for a 2-2 draw.
"To drop two points is not what we came out to do but we fought back for a draw and that takes composure," coach Barry Dancer said.
Argentina unsettled the Australians with a screaming cross goal from Mario Almada after just 78 seconds and piled on pressure in the most obvious of ways with dives and shoves that earned them two green cards and two yellows, consigning players to the bench, in the first half.
"Losing two players gave us an opportunity and we didn't take it as aggressively as we should," Dancer said.
The result belied the quality of Australia's attack with Jamie Dwyer equalising twice after Almada goals and setting up other chances with sprints worthy of the running track.
South Korea plucked a 3-2 victory out of the last minutes of a tough battle with Britain, easing some concern after their 1-1 draw with Spain.
"That really boosted our morale. We needed that," said captain Kim Yong-bae.
Britain put up a better fight than many had expected and twice drew level with the 2000 Olympic silver medallists.
But after Lee Jung-seon scored a corner three minutes from time, South Korea's defence denied Britain a final opportunity to equalise from two penalty corners won so late that both were taken after the siren.
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