Steve Darcis beat Goodall 6-7 6-3 6-4 6-4 to put the visitors ahead in Glasgow before Evans went down 3-6 6-4 7-6 6-4 to Olivier Rochus.

Both had their chances against players ranked far above them, but ultimately came up short at the Braehead Arena.

And although Goodall made a fine start by taking the first set off 68th-ranked Darcis, the Belgian turned the tide to win with authority in the end.

Goodall, the British number one for the tie despite being a late replacement for the injured James Ward, has been climbing back up the rankings over the past year to 253rd and came into the tie on the back of a Futures title in Zurich.

But this was a huge step up in level and the 26-year-old needed a big serve to prevent Darcis breaking through in the seventh game.

A powerful serve and forehand are Goodall's main weapons but it was a loss of focus from his opponent that handed him three set points in the 10th game.

Distracted by noise from the crowd, Darcis served three double faults, but Goodall could not take any of the opportunities. It did not cost him, though, as he reeled off four points in a row to win a hugely impressive tie-break.

The Basingstoke player is playing in only his second Davis Cup match having lost all five sets on his debut against Ukraine at the same venue in 2009, including four tie-breaks.

Pressure

It was inevitable Darcis would raise his level, however, and he began to mercilessly target the suspect Goodall backhand.

The home player dug in admirably, his forehand and serve helping him save four break points, but Darcis kept the pressure on and got his reward to move 5-3 ahead before serving out the set to love.

The Belgian then made it four games in a row with another break at the start of the third, and that proved enough to give him the set despite a wobble in the final game.

Goodall needed a good start to the fourth but he did not get it, Darcis taking advantage of a fortunate net cord to break in the first game.

Goodall dug deep again to save the first two match points with more big serving but Darcis simply served it out to love.

"I was definitely happy with the way I played," Goodall said. "I was pretty nervous at the start of the match but I was taking my time and I got into it straight away, which was a massive relief.

"I felt like the only thing that really let me down today was my returning, which is kind of weird because I have been returning really well for the last few weeks.

"Obviously I'm playing a different level here but when I was getting into rallies I really did feel like I was controlling a lot of the points.

"I was told the stats were I was winning 75% of points on my forehand against a guy 68 in the world so I can really take that into my next few tournaments and look to get my ranking up a lot higher."

Stunning forehand

At 344 in the world, Evans is ranked almost 300 places behind number 59 Rochus, but the 21-year-old from Birmingham pushed his experienced opponent all the way and may well have won had he taken the closest of third set tie-breaks.

Evans simply picked up where he left off in the previous match against Slovakia, coming back from 40-0 to break Rochus in the opening game and then repeating the feat to win the first set with a stunning forehand down the line.

The Belgian showed his quality at the start of the second though, reeling off four games in a row after Evans missed a chance to break, and although the home favourite pulled one back straight away he could not retrieve the second.

Evans was starting to show his frustration, smacking the net when he missed a volley that would have given him a point for 4-4, but he continued to more than match his opponent in the third set.

A crunch backhand volley saved a rare break point in the fifth game, and when he was finally broken at the fourth attempt to leave Rochus serving for a two sets to one lead, he promptly broke straight back to love.

In truth that was more to do with some tight play from the Belgian, but he eventually prevailed in the most tense of tie-breaks.

There was never more than a point between them but Evans could not take advantage of two set points, and Rochus took his first after a linesman seemed to change his mind in calling an Evans forehand wide.

Evans put the disappointment behind him in the best possible way by breaking in the opening game of the fourth set.

Much of the talk before the match had been about the lack of height of both players, with Rochus 5ft 6in and Evans 5ft 9in, and the longer the match went on the more stamina became a factor.

Both players looked very weary and sought to shorten the points, but that policy cost Evans as a poor volley and netted drop shot gave Rochus the break back for 4-4, two games after he had hit two aces to deny the Belgian.

Evans was now on the brink and he quickly found himself facing two match points at 4-5, and a cramping Rochus took the first when his opponent missed a forehand.

Ross Hutchins and Colin Fleming must now win the doubles rubber on Saturday to give Britain hope of coming back to win the tie, something they have only done once before from 2-0, and that was in 1930 against Germany.