Murdoch's Scots stop Canada in their tracks

Published on Friday 10 April 2009 22:23

SCOTLAND'S David Murdoch handed Canada's Kevin Martin his only defeat of the week with an extra end 6-5 win in the last session of round-robin play at the World Championships in Moncton, Canada.

This victory put the Scots into a clear second place on the rankings with eight wins, behind Canada, and these two now face each other again in curling's Page play-off system, with the winner of that game going directly to tomorrow's final and the loser having a second chance by way of the sole semi-final.

Behind the top two, four teams are tied on seven wins, and now face sudden-death tie-breakers to determine who else will play in the play-offs, with the US facing Norway and Germany playing Switzerland.

Canada had been steamrolling through the field before facing Scotland, and, crucially, the Scots managed to keep the first half of the game tight, with the teams going into the half-time break tied at 2-2.

Canada took the lead with a single score in the sixth, but the Scottish breakthrough came in the eighth, when Murdoch played a brave double take-out perfectly to clear out two Canadian stones and score three for a 5-3 lead.

After this, the Scots attempted to keep the game simple, but in the tenth, Murdoch was inches long with his final draw, giving Canada a single steal to level the game at 5-5 and force an extra end.

The Scots had last stone advantage in this end but did not need to use it, as Martin's final shot came up short.

After the game, a pleased Murdoch said: "This team has got a great belief in itself, and we showed that tonight."