Great Britain moved to the top of the World Championship Division IA standings after victory over Lithuania. The tournament host is the only undefeated team in the competition but remains just one point ahead of Poland after yesterday’s overtime battle.

Meanwhile, defender Ben O'Connor was underwhelmed with his team's performance despite recording another win.

"We got it done, but that wasn't the best performance we've ever put out," he said. "We demand more from ourselves.

"We got to the top flight through hard work and hard hockey. I think in the last couple of games we've slacked off a bit. We haven't shown our true potential and we need to get back to what makes us successful going into tomorrow and Friday."

Lithuania remains the only team without a point in the group after tonight's 0-3 loss. The team now faces a battle for survival in its remaining games against Italy (Wednesday) and Korea (Friday).

"We know what's ahead of us," said goalie Mantas Armalis. "We need to win the last game of the tournament, and that's it."

The Brits tweaked their attacking combinations for the game against Lithuania. Liam Kirk was joined by Brett Perlini and Mike Hammond on a new-look first line, with Cade Neilson centring Robert Dowd and Ollie Betteridge on the second and Johnny Curran playing alongside Josh Waller and Ben Lake on line three.

It wasn’t long before the home team had the opening goal. Neilson grabbed his third of the tournament, circling around the zone before beating Armalis from the deep slot. That was the third game in a row that GB had scored inside two minutes.

After struggling to build on the early advantage against Poland, Britain tried to keep up the pressure here. Josh Tetlow saw his shot gloved onto the post by Armalis, with Mantus Stankius backing to stop the puck on the line. Then Kirk got a solo rush but lost control of the puck when he was poised to shoot at goal.

The game’s first power play saw GB double its lead. Kirk and Neilson were reunited on the PP and combined to set up Dowd in the left-hand circle. He picked his moment, shooting over a sliding opponent and into the net.

Despite the 2-0 scoreline, Lithuania played its part in the first period. There were presentable chances for Emilijus Krakauskas, Martynas Grinius and Paulius Gintautas in the opening frame and the outsider actually outshot GB 9-8 through 20 minutes.

The second period, too, saw Lithuania stay competitive. There were some dangerous moments from Britain, most notably when Lake stick-handled his way to the doorstep only for Armalis to deny. 

"Lithuania played some good hockey," GB goalie Bowns said. "Unfortunately, we didn't. We let them hang around too long and made it stressful for ourselves. We'll take the positives out of today and come out more keyed for the rest of the tournament."

But as Lithuania grew in confidence, head coach Ron Pasco saw his team create some clear-cut chances. Ugnius Cizas got clear on a breakaway, only for Bowns to make the stop. And in the final seconds the British goalie had to react smartly to deny the lively Krakauskas again.

"We're playing better and better in each game and I hope that trend continues," said Armalis. "I think we deserved a little bit more tonight, maybe a goal or two, but their goalie and their defence was solid."

In the closing stages, Lithuania started to sense that it could get something from the game. Much of the final 10 minutes was played in front of Bowns' net. However, goals remain hard to come by. Despite firing 28 shots on target, the Baltic state was blanked for the second time in three games. Adding insult to injury, Nathanael Halbert scored an empty netter from deep in his own territory to wrap up the British win.