Scots curling teams remain in medal hunt

Published on Tuesday 8 December 2009 22:37

DAVID Murdoch's Scottish men came fighting back from losing four shots in the sixth end to beat Germany 10-7 yesterday morning at the Le Gruyere European Curling Championships in Aberdeen.

However, later the Scottish men lost their second game of the day, going down by 5-9 to Norway's Thomas Ulsrud and undo some of the good work of their win over Germany. The Scots, however, remain on track for the weekend medal games.

By contrast, Eve Muirhead's women followed a stunning 8-2 win over Sweden's Olympic champion Anette Norberg with a 7-4 victory over Finland to keep their medal hopes alive.

In the men's game against Germany, the opening exchanges were shared evenly until the sixth end, when Germany's Andi Kapp, who was celebrating his 42nd birthday, played a heavy take-out that moved all the Scottish counters and gave him a score of four and a 7-3 lead.

After this, the Scots showed real character as they dug deep to score in each remaining end and carve out what was for some time looking like an unlikely 10-7 win.

Later, the Scots started well against Norway, taking a single in the first end and then stealing another in the second, but Norway scored two in the third to level the game and then moved ahead with a single steal in the fourth. They then consolidated that lead with another single steal in the fifth.

In the sixth, the Scots were facing four Norwegian counters and were relieved that Murdoch's hit and roll came off, but two shots in the seventh increased the Norwegian lead to 6-3. The Scots scored two shots in the eighth and Norway cleared out some Scottish stones in the ninth to score one. In the tenth, Murdoch was left with an impossible double to score the two needed to force an extra end. He looked at the head, decided the shot was not on, and conceded.

Murdoch added: "I wouldn't say that performance was flat, it was just that we struggled with the ice in that game. Providing we win our next two games we'll still OK. I know it was a loss, but it's not a heart-breaking loss."

The women came on to the ice against Sweden knowing that defeat would virtually kill off their medal hopes. They took the initiative from the start scoring two in the second end after blanking the first. The teams swapped singles in the next two ends before Scotland moved further ahead with a steal of two in the when an attempted Swedish tap-back for two wrecked.

Scotland had a further single steal for a 6-1 lead when an attempt by Sweden to blank the end went wrong, leaving a Scottish counter in the house. The Swedes could only manage a single shot in the seventh and scores by the Scots in both the eighth and ninth ends sealed a famous victory that puts them right back in contention.

In their evening game against Finland, the Scottish women were never troubled. They opened with a two and then stole a single. After that, Finland could not find a way into the game as the Scots kept control. Eventually, Muirhead scored a single shot to win in the last end, with a final score of 7-4.

The women have one game today, against Norway, while the men conclude their round-robin programme with two games – against Switzerland and then Italy.

RESULTS AND STANDINGS

MEN: Session 6: Czech Republic 5 Sweden 10, Germany 7 Scotland 10, Switzerland 13 Italy 4, France 7 Norway 5, Denmark 9 Finland 3.

Session 7: Italy 1 Germany 9, Czech Republic 4 Denmark 7, Sweden 6 France 5 (extra end), Finland 2 Switzerland 8, Scotland 5 Norway 9.

Standings after 7 games: France, Norway won 6, lost 1; Scotland, Sweden 5-2; Switzerland 4-3; Germany 3-4; Czech Republic, Denmark Finland 2-5; Italy 0-7.

WOMEN Session 6: Norway 9 Denmark 3, Russia 7 Finland 8 (extra end), Italy 4 Germany 7, Sweden 2 Scotland 9, England 2 Switzerland 8.

Session 7: Germany 6 Russia 3, Norway 9 England 7, Denmark 5 Sweden 4 (extra end), Switzerland 10 Italy 6, Finland 4 Scotland 7.

Standings after 7 games: Switzerland won 6, lost 1; Denmark, Russia 5-2; Germany, Norway, Scotland, Sweden 4-3; Finland 2-5; Italy 1-6; England 0-7.