GB denied in Kiev

Paul Thompson’s team had got off to a terrific start in their opening game on Sunday when they defeated hosts and pre-tournament favourites Ukraine 5-3.

And they looked like repeating that triumph when David Longstaff had gave them the lead at 14.46 following good work by Phil Hill and Colin Shields.

But Kazakhstan levelled just before the halfway point when Andrei Gavrilin fired past Stephen Murphy at 29.08.

The game-winning goal didn’t arrive until the 55th minute, however, when Dmitri Dudarev found a way past Murphy.

Afterwards Thompson admitted his team’s outside hopes of securing an historic gold medal meant they had to win their remaining three games.

““We have to stop this patting ourselves on the back and feeling hard done by,” he said.

“We are in this business to win and wherever we are in this programme we have to start learning how to beat these teams. Now we all know that we are moving forward, but right now after the game we are down and it doesn’t make it any easier

“We worked hard tonight and we are still in this. We are no means out of a possible gold medal - but to stand a chance we have to win our next three games.

“We are upset that we have lost. We knew that we would have to absorb a lot of pressure at times as they are a great skating team. They have been in Pool A in recent years for a reason.”

GB are next in action on Wednesday when they take on Estonia (3pm), a match they would be expected to win with the former Soviet republic sitting four places below them in the IIHF world rankings.

Ukraine bounced back from their opening day disappointment to defeat Lithuania 5-1 but GB go into the third round of games third in the table with regular Division One rivals Poland sitting top having won their opening two games comfortably, following up a 5-1 win over Lithuania on Sunday with an 8-3 thrashing of Estonia on Monday afternoon. Great Britain play them on Saturday in their final game.

Two years ago, the final game of the group saw GB secure a bronze medal after defeating then hosts Poland 2-1 in Torun. The East European rivals gained swift revenge last year, though, when they won by the same scoreline to take the bronze and leave GB languishing in fourth.

More to follow