Great Britain U20 face their fourth opponent of the week on Thursday when they meet Italy in the World Championship (Division 1B) tournament in Budapest.

GB have two points from their three games, just ahead of Italy who have a single point from an overtime loss against Ukraine.

Italy were relegated from from Division 1A last year and are top seeds in this tournament, but with a virtually new squad they have struggled and were beaten 7-0 by Slovenia on Wednesday.

“The players showed great character against Poland and we need to take that sixty plus minutes of effort into the game against the Italians,” said GB U20 boss Martin Grubb.

“If we bring the same intensity and spirit, we pressure them and go to the net and do all the good things we did against Poland, then I’d like to think we’ll be in the game and have too much for Italy.

“It’s going to be a tough battle with both sides at the bottom end of the standings, but we’re solely focused on maintaining the improvements we’ve shown from game to game and go in rightly with a lot of confidence.”

Please click here to watch coverage of the game (face-off 7.00pm UK time).

(Image permission: Duncan Speirs)