Murdoch and his curlers are down after Turin failure

Published on Saturday 25 February 2006 13:24

DAVID MURDOCH sounded a sad lament for Great Britain's Olympic curling campaign but insisted he'd be back to put right the wrong.

The youthful British skip put a brave face on yesterday's 10-6 bronze medal match defeat to the United States but there was no doubting it hit him hard.

Murdoch is only 27 and has a long career ahead of him, although there are 1448 days to reflect on the past fortnight before Vancouver in 2010.

"I'd love this team to stay together," said Murdoch. "We've showed that we are world-class curlers. We've beaten a lot of top teams here but this has been a hard luck story for us.

"We trained our hearts out. You can't fault how hard we prepared and all the backroom support we've had. We just didn't get the breaks we needed.

"I hope to be back, although you never know what happens in life. I want to carry on curling at this level.

"This will be with me for a long, long time but hopefully I'll bury it at the next Olympics."

Despite a storming start to their round-robin matches, these Games ended with four straight defeats - a harsh statistic that fails to explain how close each loss was.

This match was again settled on the final stone, but the United States were always in control, especially after seizing a valuable triple in the third end.

Quality of ice has been a hot topic in Pinerolo with Rhona Martin criticising it as being unsuitable for such a major championship.

Murdoch was making no excuses but there is no doubt that American skip Pete Fenson adapted better to the changeable surface, when his double take-out in the third end effectively ended the match.

"We wanted that bronze so much, especially after what happened in the semi-final but sometimes things just don't go your way. But we showed lots of fight."

Meanwhile, vice-skip Ewan MacDonald admitted it would be a struggle to find the motivation for next week's Scottish Championships in Perth, where victory would secure a shot at the world title in April.

"We knew how we'd feel if we lost and it's just as bad, probably worse, than I thought," he said. "This medal was so important to us and we've put everything into this campaign for the past three or four years.

"We'll have a debrief and regroup and we'll then get ready for the Scottish Championships.

"Personally, I'm looking forward to getting back to work so I can take my mind off this."