GB U18’s 7-1 Croatia U18’s

Great Britain Under-18s set up a bronze-medal decider as they beat Croatia U18s 7-1 this afternoon in the World Championship (Division 2A) in Tallinn.

Martin Grubb’s youngsters will now go head-to-head with Netherlands tomorrow, with the winner taking home the bronze medal.

Glenn Billing scored a hat-trick against Croatia to help GB to a huge win, while netminder Renny Marr turned away 16 of the 17 shots he faced.

GB stormed into a four-goal first period lead, with Lee Bonner (3:24), Billing (10:35), Michael Stratford (15:19) and Ivan Antonov (17:58) all on target.

Antonov netted his second at 25:54 and Billing did the same at 28:48, before Croatia got on the board through Hrvoje Kriksic (30:21).

Billing completed his hat-trick (47:47) with the only goal of the final period as GB produced their best performance of the tournament.

Grubb said: “We asked for a big performance and the players responded, especially in the first period.

“We talked about how the next two games would define our tournament and, although we have had a few disappointments, we wanted to show we are a good team.

“I was really happy with how we went about today and I knew we were ready to play after our morning skate – and I am pleased how we controlled the game.

“Everybody contributed today and we have now given ourselves a chance to play for a bronze medal and it would be nice to finish on a high.”
GB play Netherlands at 11am UK time tomorrow in the bronze-medal decider.

Elsewhere on the last day of the tournament, Poland against Korea will be a battle for gold and promotion, while Croatia versus Estonia is the fight to avoid relegation.