Great Britain were beaten 5-4 by Italy in their second game at the IHF European Cup of Nations in Sosnowiec, Poland.

Pete Russell’s side produced a terrific performance in an entertaining game and were unlucky to come away without the points.

Lucas Brine got the start between the pipes with Renny Marr as back-up. Patrick Larkin was ruled out because of injury.

Dustin Gazley gave Italy the lead on the powerplay (15:20), before GB hit back as Archie Hazeldine and Josh Waller combined to set-up captain Ollie Betteridge (18:34).

Italy scored short-handed through Luca Frigo five minutes into the second period (25:00), but GB roared back once more thanks to a sweet top-shelf finish by Kris Inglis (29:46) with assists to Jack Hopkins and Logan Neilson.

Alex Petan made it 3-2 to Italy (32:56) and at the other end, Waller’s speed created the chance for Betteridge to score his second of the night (36:16).

GB pushed hard in the third period and got the equaliser their performance deserved as Joe Hazeldine and Liam Steele combined for Logan Neilson to score on the powerplay (55:50) to send the game to overtime.

Italy won the game in the extra period with just 11 seconds remaining as Gazley scored on the rebound for his second of the night (64:49).

Photo credit: Michał Chwieduk.