Great Britain coach Nick Buller praised his side's bulldog spirit as they slipped to a narrow women's water polo defeat at the European Games.
After a heavy loss to Greece in their tournament opener, Buller urged his under-17 team to show their potential against Germany.
It was close throughout but the more experienced German side showed just too much class as Great Britain slipped to a 10-7 loss, with Alice Dean and Verity McCoy both claiming doubles.
"I’m bitterly disappointed to lose; I thought we could have won it," said Buller, whose youthful side is aiming for a top ten finish in Baku.
"The posts had a great game for them and our shooting just wasn’t there.
"The opportunities were created and we could have won the game, so we are bitterly disappointed that we haven’t. Ordinarily we could have expected Germany to beat us by more goals than they did.
"There were lots of positives. The resources Germany have in terms of training facilities and opportunities is way ahead of GB. They hosted their own tournament with Australia and New Zealand only last weekend – we could only dream of that preparation. The way we played, we could have won it but that end product wasn’t there.
"The most important thing is our spirit. We’re British and we set values as a team. Being British is all about never giving up, having that ‘bulldog’ spirit."
Great Britain take on Holland on Sunday before a game against water polo powerhouses Hungary.
© Sportsbeat 2015