SCOTT SINCLAIR and Daniel Sturridge gave watching England manager Roy Hodgson a nudge as Great Britain's first Olympic win since 1960 sent them top of Group A.
After Ryan Giggs had become the oldest goalscorer in Olympic history, GB required a rather more youthful duo to drag them out of a hole after Rashed Eisa had equalised for United Arab Emirates.
The 3-1 victory got GB back on track to secure a quarter-final berth, although they will almost certainly need to avoid defeat against Uruguay at the Millennium Stadium on Wednesday to seal their knockout berth.
As against Senegal, GB's opener was crafted in the Valleys.
This time, after Giggs had fed Tom Cleverley and continued motoring into the box, the roles were reversed as Craig Bellamy provided the cross and the veteran Manchester United man rose unopposed to nod home.
GB were hit by a sucker punch on the hour as Eisa took advantage of the kind of defensive slackness that proved so costly against Senegal.
This time it was Omar Abdulrahman that sent a pass straight into the space Neil Taylor and James Tomkins should have been filling between then. Eisa raced onto it and gleefully beat Jack Butland.
As Hodgson watched on, Stuart Pearce took the bold decision to replace Giggs with Sinclair.
It turned out to be a masterstroke.
With his first touch, Sinclair was on hand to tap home as a Bellamy cross created panic in the UAE box, Ali Khaseif succeeding only in pushing it straight to the Swansea man, who tapped into an empty net.
Three minutes later, GB sealed their win as Sturridge charged through, then beat Khaseif with an impudent chip from the edge of the area.
Striker Jerry Bengtson dumped Spain out as Honduras pulled off a shock 1-0 win at St James' Park. The Spaniards lost their Group D opener 1-0 to Japan at Hampden.