Captain John Lloyd admitted he was "devastated" after Great Britain slumped to defeat in their Davis Cup clash with Lithuania.

Lloyd was left to consider his position after becoming the first GB captain to oversee five successive defeats.

Britain must now beat Turkey, who lost to Ireland this weekend, in a relegation play-off in July to avoid dropping to Europe/Africa Zone Group III - the lowest tier of the competition.

After James Ward's loss to Ricardas Berankis earlier on Sunday, the result came down to the last singles rubber between Dan Evans and Laurynas Grigelis - a player ranked 269 places below the Birmingham teenager at 521 in the world.

Evans recovered from a nightmare third set to force a decider but 18-year-old Grigelis triumphed 6-7 (6/8) 7-5 6-0 2-6 6-4.

"I'm devastated for the team and more so Dan, as I thought he worked his butt off," Lloyd told BBC Sport.

"I felt sorry for him more than anybody else. We'll see about my future, it's too early yet."

Lloyd had to do without British number one Andy Murray for the tie and added: "We obviously didn't have our number one playing and that was certainly an evening-out point.

"It was a 50/50 sort of match before the start, and they were the better team.

"They don't have as many players to pick from as we do but their players are good."

Ward had beaten Grigelis comfortably in the opening rubber on Friday but, a couple of break points aside, Evans was unable to unduly trouble his opponent in the first set.

The tie-break looked to be slipping away when the 18-year-old Lithuanian won four points in a row to lead 6-4 but a gutsy point from Evans allowed him to retrieve the mini-break and he held his nerve to serve out for a one-set lead.

Grigelis was not going away, though, and he claimed the first break of the match to move 6-5 ahead in the second set before confidently serving out a love game to make it one set all.

Evans was suddenly on the back foot and was broken three times as Grigelis raced through the third set.

The British number four responded, breaking three times in set four to level the match.

But this was the biggest match of Grigelis' life and he was determined not to let it slip away. And some stunning shots from the Lithuanian gave him the first break of the decider in the fifth game.

The luckiest of net cords helped Evans save a first match point on his own serve at 3-5 and he looked set to take full advantage when he moved 0-40 ahead with his opponent serving for the match.

But again Evans was found wanting when it really counted and a delighted Grigelis celebrated a landmark victory.

With Britain leading 2-1 overnight, hopes were high Ward may be able to seal the tie in the day's first match by upsetting Berankis, who is a former world junior number one and, at 198, ranked substantially higher than either of Britain's representatives.

But it was not to be as the 19-year-old Lithuanian held his nerve impeccably in a 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 6-4 victory, breaking Ward once in the second and third sets.

The British number three, who was playing in his first Davis Cup tie, felt he was unfortunate to come out on the wrong side of a close match.

He said: "It came down to a few points. He served really well today. I served well as well but I could have done a bit more on the return and make him play a few more points. But there was not much in it, just two breaks. It's tough."