Great Britain are one step away from earning promotion to the top tier of the World Championships for the first time in 25 years.

None of the six nations in Division One Group A have had to wait for so long and it isn’t expected considering that Team GB was just promoted to the second tier of international ice hockey one year ago!

“I don’t know what’s going on to be honest,” said head coach Peter Russell.

“Maybe we keep dreaming and one more comes and we can do the impossible.

“It was an ugly performance but sometimes you have to get the job done like that. We were blocking shot, didn’t give up on rebounds. If you work hard, opportunities come and we got the opportunities again.”

They used their opportunity and their luck, including a goal scored from between the red and blue line, and defended bravely as Italy outshot Great Britain 33-17.

After the victory the mathematical probability of gaining promotion is 89 per cent. One point in the game against Hungary will be enough for the British to secure first place and promotion. And even in case of a regulation-time loss there are scenarios that see GB among the top two teams that earn promotion.

“It was a tight game, they had a lot of chances in the third,” said forward Brett Perlini. “We kept fighting and I was fortunate enough to get the game-winner and go-ahead goal. We hung on from there.

“It’s a pretty cool feeling that we’re in this position but we knew if we win today we will have a good spot and if we win tomorrow it will be a special feeling next year.

“Sacrifice, blocking shots, going to the net, sticking to the game plan. They are our main attributes.

“We believe in ourselves. We knew we could get the job done and we did.”

“It’s going to be a tough game against Hungary in our final game with the home crowd. We have to go back with what made us successful and hopefully we can get the win. It’s going to be a high-energy building, the last game. We’re just going to give it everything.”

Cardiff Devils netminder Ben Bowns played a huge part in the victory and said: “We’re a great team. “Every team in this tournament is strong. If you want to win you have to buy in for full 60 minutes.

“The match against Hungary is going to be amazing. The crowd is awesome here. We’re used to it back home so it shouldn’t affect us but it will be fun. They’re looking for promotion as well.”

Great Britain are top of the group on nine points, while Italy, Kazakhstan, Slovenia and Hungary all have six.

“We came back three times and were all over for the last part of the third period and throughout most of the game,” said Italy head coach Clayton Beddoes.

“GB defended well in front of the net, it was difficult to get a second shot and they had good goaltending.”

Cardiff Devils defenceman Mark Richardson says Great Britain have a “special group of people” as they aim for the gold medal and promotion to the top flight.

“We have such a close-knit group and we all enjoy each others company,” said Richardson. “There is a special bond and that helps for sure in down times.

“Everyone has had to dig deep this week and pull out results against some of the best nations in the world.

“This is a special roster we have here and it’s exciting to think what the prize is at the end of it all.

“This is a huge moment for our nation and we are very excited.

“This has been a fantastic week and to be competing at this level and beating quality teams has been amazing.”

The game burst into life with three goals in 66 seconds started off by Stevie Lee sending Perlini clear, who took the puck out of the air with his stick and slotted in his third goal of the tournament (7-01).

Italy hit back 22 seconds later when Alex Lambacher jumped onto a loose puck which came off the backboards with goalie Bowns out of position (7-23).

Only another 44 seconds had elapsed when Brendan Brooks set up Robert Dowd who shot through Andreas Bernard’s five-hole from the right circle (8-07).

Italy hit back for a second time at 13-30 as a turnover in the GB defence saw Thomas Larkin fire a deflected shot past Bowns.

Britain went ahead again as a dump on goal from the redline by Ben O’Connor hit Bernard’s pads and trickled in at 22-10 – a goal which saw the first-choice netminder replaced by Marco de Filippo Roia.

Giulio Scandella bagged Italy’s third equaliser as he broke clear from the blueline and made it 3-3 at 45-08.

Perlini scored his second of the night and became the tournament’s leading goalscorer with a fantastic short-side finish (48-44).

GB have not been in the top level of world ice hockey since 1994, but a point against Hungary this evening will guarantee them the gold medal, while they could even be promoted without even playing depending on other results.

GB against Hungary will face-off at 7.30pm this evening (6.30pm UK time).

World Championship group results so far and fixtures:

Wednesday, April 25

Italy 3, Kazakhstan 0

Great Britain 5, Poland 3

Slovenia 4, Hungary 1

Tuesday, April 24

Kazakhstan 6, Great Britain 1

Monday, April 23

Slovenia 2, Poland 4

Italy 2, Hungary 3

Sunday, April 22

Great Britain 3, Slovenia 1

Hungary 0, Kazakhstan 3

Poland 1, Italy 3

Schedule

Wednesday, 25 April

Italy 3, Kazakhstan 0

Great Britain 5, Poland 3

Slovenia 4, Hungary 1

Thursday, 26 April

Poland 2, Hungary 3

Friday, 27 April

Kazakhstan 3 Slovenia 5

Italy 3, Great Britain 4

Saturday, 28 April

Kazakhstan v Poland (11.30)

Slovenia v Italy (15.00)

Hungary v Great Britain (18.30)

Group standings

R	Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF:GA	PTS
1	GBR	4	3	0	0	1	13:13	9
2	ITA	4	2	0	0	2	11:8	6
3	KAZ	4	2	0	0	2	12:9	6
4	SLO	4	2	0	0	2	12:11	6
5	HUN	4	2	0	0	2	7:11	6
6	POL	4	1	0	0	3	10:13	3

Scoring Leaders

Player	Team	Pos	GP	G	A	PTS
PERLINI Brett		F	4	4	2	6
VERLIC Miha		F	4	3	3	6
OCONNOR Ben		D	4	3	2	5
SEBOK Balazs		F	4	3	2	5
URBAS Jan		F	4	3	2	5
CHMIELEWSKI Aron		F	3	2	3	5
DELUCA Ivan		F	4	1	3	4
GOLICIC Bostjan		F	4	1	3	4
ASETOV Alikhan		F	4	2	1	3
DOWD Robert		F	4	2	1	3