PETE RUSSELL acknowledges there is work to be done in order for Great Britain to be ready for their World Championship opener against Austria on May 16.

As part of their preparations for Switzerland, GB are going head-to-head with Italy in a four-game series

The second game takes place in Nottingham on Saturday night, two nights after the hosts fell to a 6-4 defeat in front of a sellout crowd in Milton Keynes.

The two teams will then play each other twice more in Varese on May 10 and 12 before heading to their respective host cities.

As part of Group A, Russell - recently re-appointed as head coach at NIHL National outfit Milton Keynes Lightning - and his players will be based in Zurich where, after facing Austria, they will also face USA, Hungary, Switzerland, Finland, Latvia and Germany.

As always, it will be a tough task for GB to retain their place in Pool A, but something they have managed previously under Russell.

On Thursday, the 51-year-old Scot handed an opportunity to defenceman Liam Steele and forward Ivan Björkly Nordström, playing alongside Sheffield Steelers’ team-mates Robert Dowd and Cole Shudra, who were both part of the GB squad that earned promotion to the top tier alongside Italy last year when winning the Division 1A tournament in Romania.

GB were leading 2-0 going into the middle period, Steele picking up an assist on the second of two goals from former Steelers’ forward Logan Neilson, but Italy hit back to take a 3-2 lead just after the halfway mark.

PREPARATIONS: GB captain Robert Dowd battles with Italy's Matt Bradley in Milton Keynes on Thursday. Picture: Ben Gordon/IHUK Media.

placeholder image — PREPARATIONS: GB captain Robert Dowd battles with Italy's Matt Bradley in Milton Keynes on Thursday. Picture: Ben Gordon/IHUK Media.

But two strikes in three minutes saw GB regain the initiative, Johnny Curran’s 35th-minute strike being followed by a goal from Brett Perlini, which saw 22-year-old Steele pick up his second assist of the night.

Italy were quick to level in the third through Mikael Frycklund before going ahead again at 52.28 through Luca Frigo, victory being secured with Tommaso de Luca’s empty net strike with just 26 seconds remaining.

“If there's anything we can learn from that game is, you have to keep going, a period's not enough,” said Russell.

“That's the key, we need to try and be consistently playing simple, hard, competing, and being predictable, and it's not there yet.

GOOD SHOWING: Sheffield Steelers' defenceman, Liam Steele, posted two assists in the 6-4 defeat to Italy on Thursday. Picture: Ben Gordon/IHUK Media.

“We came together on Monday, it's Thursday. It's not making excuses, but Italy have been together for two weeks and they've played four games now, and we’re behind them - 100 per cent.

“But I've seen parts, I've seen some parts that we can be better at, maybe some combinations, we're not just sure about yet on lines, and that's what these games are for.

“And it's just important to know, we know what we're up against and we'll just build as we go, building blocks.”

Russell added that people shouldn’t be under any illusions about the scale of the task ahead of them in Zurich.

“It's about the next two weeks,” he added. “We're going to play in Pool A. People think that's the norm - it's not the norm, so we've got to be the best we can be in those games, the very best.”