The hosts have won their last five matches but face a stiff task against the Belgians, whose singles players hold much higher world rankings.

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, putting the pressure on Dan Evans to come up with more heroics in the second rubber against world number 59 Olivier Rochus.

"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."