Tommy Smith became the first current Town player to take part in the Olympics but finished on the losing side as Belarus defeated New Zealand 1-0 at Coventry's Ricoh Arena.

Dmitry Baga headed the winner just before the break after an error by Oly Whites keeper Michael O’Keefe.

Smith picked up what's likely to be the quickest yellow card of the tournament within the first minute.

Smith tweeted: "Gutted not to have won that game. We dominated the first half and got done by a sucker punch set piece. A lot of positive signs though.

"We played some excellent football and created a lot of decent chances. On another day we would have won by two or three. Focus is now on Sunday!

"Let's give Egypt an even better game than tonight and take the points! The support for us was amazing tonight, keep it coming!"

The Oly Whites next take on Egypt at Old Trafford on Sunday and Brazil at St James' Park, Newcastle next Wednesday.

Photo: Action Images

Photo: Action Images

harlingblue added 22:47 - Jul 26 Congratulations Tommy, shame about the result, good luck in the next two games.
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TotalBlue added 22:52 - Jul 26 Ok sad stat geeek but trying boost Tommy as well surely he is the first ever town player to play in the olympics if not who was???
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JewellintheTown added 22:53 - Jul 26 Just come from the game. Took about 30 seconds for smiths booking. Silly one too and we were right in front of it but very harsh reffing. Looked like a pull back from where we were sitting. Had a mixed game. Reasonably solid but must have been zonal marking as he was often missing a marker. I thought it looked like his man he should have been marking for the goal. Other than the loss, it will have done him good though.

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Garv added 23:58 - Jul 26 JewellintheTown - only seen the goal on TV but I'm pretty sure Smith was marking someone else for the goal, so I don't think he can be blamed. Might be wrong. All good experience for Tommy.
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raycrawfordswig added 07:37 - Jul 27 Good experience Olympics and World Cup.Can only be good for him.
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JewellintheTown added 08:27 - Jul 27 @garv - you're probably right about him marking someone else but from what i saw seated right up at that end of the stadium he more often was marking the man at the back post, sometimes centre. I got the impression as they scored and walked away that he felt guilty that it was his man that scored. Didnt see the replay on the big screen so I'll take your word for it though. He seemed solid when it was clear it was his ball but not so confident when there were other bodies around. Hopefully he'll sort that though.

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Fatboy added 13:03 - Jul 27 Sergei Baltacha won Olympic bronze with USSR in 1980, but obviously wasn't a Town player until many years later. Does anyone know of any other Town players who have appeared in the Olympics?
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