By Piers Newbery

Sport Academy: Hockey section

The road to Athens looked like being a dead end for Great Britain's men only two weeks ago after a disastrous start to their Olympic qualifying campaign.

A surprise 2-1 defeat to Poland in their opening match was followed by losses to the Netherlands and Spain.

The 1988 Olympic hockey champions were in serious danger of missing the Games for the first time since boycotting Moscow in 1980, needing a 4-0 win over South Africa to stay alive.

But, under enormous pressure, GB stormed past the South Africans 6-0 and then beat Belgium and New Zealand to secure their place.

"We always knew it would probably come down to the South Africa game," Garrard told BBC Sport.

I think we're trying to find our base game; we still struggle with inconsistency Brett Garrard, GB captain

"We had the day off before and prepared well, so we were confident going in.

"Our aim was to win 4-0 and we just said we were going to be positive. We were 3-0 up after 14 minutes and never let up.

"We then played Belgium - who we've played a few times recently and who are a good side, very tactically astute - and we carried on where we'd left off against South Africa."

The result was vital for British hockey and a huge boost to coach Jason Lee, who was appointed after the European Championship campaign last September.

At just 33 years old, the assistant England coach and former international was a surprise choice, but a popular one with the players.

"He's one of the most inexperienced coaches in the game - I've actually played with him," said Garrard. "But he's very hard working and he's learning quickly.

"He's very strong on work rate and attitude and it's rubbing off.

BRETT GARRARD Born: 21/8/76 Club: Surbiton England caps: 121 GB caps: 29

"The training's not harder than it used to be but there's a different emphasis, not only with fitness but also things around the game, like studying videos and looking at other teams."

One of Lee's first decisions was to hand the captaincy to Garrard, and the Surbiton player insists the added responsibility has not had a radical impact.

"I'm there to do a job as a player first and foremost, and I'd like to think I'd do the same things whether or not I was in that position," said Garrard.

"It's really about getting used to dealing with the media and all the things away from the game.

"The next few months will be hard work and there is pressure, but it will be exciting and an honour more than anything."

Garrard aims to emulate Stephen Bachelor and the 1988 squad

After the desperately close call in qualification, the provisional squad will get together at the end of this month for a six-week period of training.

And despite the relief at securing a place in Athens, Garrard admits there is work to be done before August.

"I think we're trying to find our base game; we still struggle with inconsistency," he said. "It's when we try and do different things that we come unstuck.

"People say we don't score enough goals but we're making chances. When we play our game we're hard to beat."

The likes of the Netherlands, Germany, South Korea and Australia will certainly be favourites when the Olympics get underway, but a medal is not out of the question.

"There might be a bit of a gap between the top four or five and the rest but any team can win on their day, and I'd certainly fancy our chances against Pakistan and India," said Garrard.

"We've beaten everyone at some stage and we've lost to them all. There are probably 10 to 15 teams who can all beat each other."

And Garrard knows that the prize for emulating the 1988 team is a public profile otherwise out of reach for a hockey player.

"We've still got Russell Garcia from 1988 and there are a lot of people around the squad who were in Seoul, and in Los Angeles in 1984 when we got a bronze.