French striker Florian Sotoca opened the scoring early on for his side at the Kazan Arena, but Britain had the chance to equalise from the spot when the goalscorer gave away a penalty on James Baldwin, only for Gavin Malin to see his spot-kick saved by the French goalkeeper after half an hour.

An own goal from Jack Winter just after the half-time interval looked to have sealed the win for the French, but Britain's Micky Rae had other ideas, netting in the 68th minute and again right at the death to take the game into extra time.

Britain's task became even more difficult in the half-hour of extra time when substitute Jake Parrott was shown a second yellow card after France's Maxime Brandy reacted theatrically to a challenge, leaving Britain to complete the game with ten men.

With just seven minutes of play left on the clock, the French sealed the win with a right-footed volley from Fanch Weyders to make it 3-2 and Britain had no time to respond, leaving them to settle for silver.

But British captain Kieran Murphy spoke of how proud he was of his team's performances and acknowledged the achievement of reaching the final for the second Universiade in succession, following their 2-0 defeat to Japan at Shenzhen 2011.

"It's been beyond my wildest dreams what we've achieved," said Murphy.

"Obviously I'm gutted because I was desperate to win gold, but the silver medal represents the highs of our wins against Ukraine and Russia, the team spirit, and all the memories we'll take away from Kazan."

Head coach James Ellis added: "It's disappointment because we've got to the final and could have won gold.

"But we've done so well to get into the final again, it's a huge achievement, and I hope the players will reflect on that later.

"They've done their country and themselves proud."

Great Britain won gold in the women's football, coming from behind twice to beat Mexico 6-2 in the final

However, there was gold for Britain's women's side earlier in the day as they came to life in the final ten minutes to bang in four goals in quick succession with the scores tied at 2-2 to take the gold medal with a 6-2 win over Mexico.

Britain had to come back twice against their opponents, with Naomi Cole equalising first to cancel out the early opener from Monica Monsivais, but Veronica Corral Ang pulled the Mexicans back in front to take her goals tally for the tournament into double figures.

But just before half-time, the Britons ensured that they would go into the second half on level terms when Izzy Christiansen's cross forced Cristina Ferral Montalvan to put the ball past her own keeper and make it 2-2 at the break.

A tense second half stalemate ensued until the 82nd minute when Britain took the lead for the first time in the game, with Birmingham Ladies forward Christiansen heavily involved again, providing the assist for Reading Ladies' Fran Kirby to convert to make it 3-2 in the dying embers of the game.

And the floodgates well and truly opened for the British from this point, as Kirby turned provider just moments later with a pinpoint cross for substitute Aileen Whelan to slot home, and another one followed when player of the match Kirby finished again to make it 5-2.

Kirby had her chance for a hat-trick late on but she was denied by the Mexican keeper, though Arsenal Ladies striker Danielle Carter was on hand to finish to complete a 6-2 win.

"It's absolutely amazing, everything everyone dreams of when they come here," said Kirby.

"We knew what we wanted to do, but it's incredible that we managed to do it.

"We knew we could score goals second half, we found out what their weaknesses were, and used that to our advantage.

"It's been amazing - the staff have been wonderful and it's an experience I'm never going to forget."

Head coach Kay Cossington added: "We've always known we have goals in us - it just takes for us to get one or two ahead and the floodgates open, we play with such confidence and creativity.

"It's a great achievement - some of these players hadn't played any international football.

"Winning is what we came here to do, and thankfully we've achieved that.

"Personally, in terms of achievements, this is up there with the best of them.

"I'm completely overwhelmed.

"[Kirby] has had a tough time with a number of things, missed out on international football, and to see her receive that award [player of the final] was overwhelming because I know what journey she's been on."

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