Hewitt pops up to grab winner for GB

After Saturday's opening day 4-1 win over Croatia, Paul Thompson's side were made to work much harder by a Korean side looking to bounce back from their 4-2 defeat at the hands of Hungary.

A tight first period ended with no goals at either end before the deadlock was eventually broken at 26.46 when Phil Hill drove the net to pick up the rebound after a Ben O'Connor slap shot had been palmed away.

But, against the run of play, the Koreans hit back when Dong Hwan Song equalised with less than three minutes remaining in the opening period.

With chances few and far between, GB had to dig deep in the third period and it was Hewitt who provided the breakthrough when he fired into the top corner at 49.21 to maintain his side's 100 per cent record in Llubljana.

Afterwards TRhompson admitted he was relieved to have got past a team ranked nine places below them in the IIHF world rankings at 33.

After the arduous 26-hour coach journey undertaken to get to the former Yugoslav republic saw them arrive just two hours before face-off against Croatia on Saturday, Thompson was worried his players would begin to feel the effects of that against the Koreans.

"I was more worried about this game than Saturday's after the huge travel delays we encountered" said Thompson.

"We got through on adrenalin (against Croatia) after arriving here so late. (Against Lorea) I felt we could get caught out with tiredness but the guys dug in and did a really professional job.

"It was a tight game but we expected that. I thought we had more jump and the better of the first period but then perhaps gambled and risked a bit too much in the second. I went down to three lines and bumped Jason Hewitt up a line to play with his Steelers team mates and that seemed to work

"It was a great finish from Jason (Hewitt) to win the game, we deserved the win and I thought we saw the game out well."

GB are next in action on Tuesday evening against hosts and, for some the pre-tournament favourites, Slovenia (face-off 7pm) when they can expect a tougher test of their medal credentials.