STEVIE Lyle believes Great Britain should be aiming for the summit ahead of the start of their World Championship campaign tomorrow.

Swindon Wildcats netminder Lyle and the rest of the GB squad take on host nation Croatia in the first match of their Division 1B quest, with more matches against Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Romania to come throughout the week in Zagreb.

Pete Russell’s side won four of their five matches at the same competition 12 months ago but a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Lithuania in their final match proved costly as Britain finished second in the standings behind South Korea, missing out on promotion to Division 1A by a single point.

Lyle helped GB to a 3-2 warm-up win over Poland last weekend, the second of two close matches between the two, and that has given the veteran stopper hope of going one better at the World Championships this time around.

“We should have won it last year. We won the hard games but then we came up a bit short in the last,” said 36-year-old Lyle.

“Every team has been playing warm-up games and doing their homework but I think the expectation for us going there is the same as last year: to be competitive and hopefully do well.

“If Poland were in our group, then they would be the favourites. We’ve played two games against them and both were close and went to overtime and we won one and lost one.

“We feel like there isn’t going to be any harder team than this Polish team we’ve just faced, so hopefully we can do well.

“It’s a big game, starting off against Croatia. We beat them last year and if we can do the same this year, it will set us up very well for the rest of the tournament.”

Having enjoyed positive preparation for the competition, Lyle reports a good mood in the Great Britain camp but added that the squad must remain focussed if they are to achieve success.

“All our best players seem to be healthy,” added Lyle.

“I think Robert Dowd finished the season with a bit of an injury and is maybe only at about 60 or 70 per cent but hopefully, a week on from the last game, he should be up to 80 or 90 per cent.

“We’ve got a good coaching team and they’ll come up with good plans for all the teams but once we’re on the ice, it’s up to us players to put that into practice.”

SWINDON Wildcats fans will be able to receive a free summer hockey fix at the Link Centre today as the Swindon Panthers take on the British Army Blades (face-off 5pm) in their first challenge match of the year.

The Panthers are a recreational team and have a number of former Wildcats, who have played both in the English Premier League and National League, in their ranks.