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Great Britain suffer late misery to lose out on World Championship Division 1A place

Ice hockey - generic

Great Britain were denied promotion to World Championship Division 1A for the second successive year after a heartbreaking late 2-1 defeat to Ukraine.

Following four straight wins this week, Britain needed only a point to secure a first gold medal in 23 years.

Having outshot Ukraine 15-3 in the first period, captain Jonathan Phillips got the go-ahead goal for the third game running when he tipped in a shot from Josh Batch at 21.54.

But Dmytro Chernyshenko tied it up at 44.25 before Olexander Pobyedonostsev grabbed the game-winning goal at 56.04.

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GB pulled netminder Ben Bowns in a last-ditch attempt to claim the point required but they missed out on gold once again following their previous last-day disappointment in the Netherlands a year ago.

They must now wait on the outcome of Lithuania's game against Croatia to see whether they will claim silver or bronze.

Coach Pete Russell said: "I am just stunned - it is like last year all over again. We gave it everything we had and I really am proud of everyone.

"We were fantastic all week but we just couldn't get over the line. This is a horrible feeling."

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