Ice Hockey World Championship: Great Britain beaten 2-1 by ninth seeds Slovakia

Great Britain are 19th in the ice hockey world rankings, 10 places lower than Slovakia

Great Britain were beaten 2-1 by ninth seeds Slovakia in their second group game at the World Championship in Riga.

Marek Hrivik put Slovakia ahead after 25 seconds, but Liam Kirk swept home an equaliser in the second period after Brett Perlini saw his shot saved.

Robert Lantosi crucially beat Britain's netminder Ben Bowns - who made 41 saves in the game - for a second time soon after to seal victory.

The narrow loss followed Saturday's opening 7-1 defeat by Russia.

Britain's co-coach Adam Keefe said they "want to keep building as the tournament goes on" and their effort against one of the world's top 10 nations was "evidence we are getting stronger".

"This was a terrific performance and we have come off the ice disappointed we did not get more out of the game," he said.

"That shows how far we have come in the past few years. We took Slovakia close this afternoon and if a few bounces had gone our way it could've been a different story."

Britain next face Denmark on Tuesday (14:15 BST).

IIHF 2021 World Championship - GB results/fixtures

Saturday 22 May - Great Britain 1-7 Russia

Sunday 23 May - Great Britain 1-2 Slovakia

Tuesday 25 May - Great Britain v Denmark - (14:15 BST)

Wednesday 26 May - Belarus v Great Britain - (18:15 BST)

Friday 28 May - Sweden v Great Britain - (14:15 BST)

Saturday 29 May - Czech Republic v Great Britain (10:15 BST)

Tuesday 1 June - Switzerland v Great Britain - (10:15 BST)