Robert Farmer scored his first senior goal for Great Britain but it wasn’t enough to stop them losing their third game of the Ice Hockey World Championships to Italy in Hungary.
Britain took to the ice for the third time in Budapest having lost 4-2 to the hosts and then 5-0 to Kazakhstan as the Division One Group A tournament got under way.
Italy took lead after 61 seconds through Nathan di Casmirro before Farmer equalised for Britain on his 14th senior appearance with a blast from the right circle with seven minutes gone.
Patrick Iannone’s powerplay one-timer put Italy in front again at the start of the second period while
Vincent Rocco made it 3-1 at the beginning of the third.
Markus Gander netted seconds later to make it 4-1 and Daniel Sullivan scored Italy’s fifth shorthanded on the rebound after a two on one break.
Great Britain face Japan next up on Friday before completing their tournament against South Korea a day later and head coach Tony Hand, said: “I am a little frustrated after this one.
“I am proud of the way they battled and they gave their all once again. But we made mistakes and that is disappointing.
“We looked tired at the end and when you get tired you make mistakes. I will talk to the boys and we must find a way to stop this happening.
“But we won’t get down. We will lift ourselves now. We have two massive games to come. We have been here before, so we know how to handle it.”
© Sportsbeat 2013
Picture credit Diane Davey