Great Britain were beaten 3-2 by Croatia at the men’s Under-18s World Championship Division II Group A in Romania.
Max van Mullem started between the pipes with Harry Thomas named as back-up.
Ricards Misins set-up Alex Rushby who beat Luka Komusanac with a neat backhand finish on the doorstep (14:16).
Croatia hit back just 35 seconds later as Karlo Stepan pounced on a turnover to equalise from the slot (14:51) and went ahead on the powerplay when Bruno Alic got the final touch following a goalmouth scramble (17:54).
GB equalised late in the second period on the powerplay as Robbie Henderson’s shot from the blueline was saved but Rushby reacted first to bury the rebound (39:44).
Daragh Spawforth was thrown-out for a check to the head with just under two minutes remaining.
A regulation-time victory for GB would’ve set-up the chance for promotion and a gold medal so Van Mullem was lifted for the extra skater, but Alic scored into the empty net (59:29) to secure the three points for Croatia.
There are no games in the tournament on Friday but GB will bid for a medal on Saturday in their final game of the tournament as they face Japan at 16:00 (14:00 BST).
All games are streamed live on iihf.tv.
Great Britain schedule and results
Sunday 12th April: Great Britain 5-4 Romania
Monday 13th April: Great Britain 0-1 China
Wednesday 15th April: Great Britain 4-1 Spain
Thursday 16th April: Croatia 3-2 Great Britain
Saturday 18th April 16:00 (14:00): Japan v Great Britain