Curling: Scots end round-robin with Finland loss

Scotland finished their round-robin campaign in disappointing fashion, going down 10-9 to bottom-placed Finland.

The Scots had already qualified for the Page 1-2 play-off game by this stage, and, as is often the way in such circumstances, with their qualification already assured, they slumped. This was a see-saw game in which Finland opened with a score of three points in the first end when skip Aku Kauste made a strong hit. Scotland skip David Murdoch responded with a well-judged draw for four points in the fourth end to take a 6-5 lead, but gave up a steal of three points in the sixth end.

The Scots fought back, scoring in each of the next three ends but, eventually, Finnish skip Kauste got round a Scottish guard with his last to hit for one point and his win.

With Scotland sitting out the final session, Canada faced Sweden. The Swedes had the early advantage, sitting 4-2 up after three ends, but Canada’s Brad Jacobs drew for three points in the fourth end to take the lead for the first time at 5-4.

In the ninth, Swedish skip Niklas Edin hit out a Canadian stone, leaving two of his own already in the house, to score two points for a 9-7 lead. After this, Sweden stole another two points in the tenth, for 11-7, when a desperate, ambitious Canadian attempt to win the game didn’t come off.

This result puts Sweden into second place ahead of Canada and Denmark, and they now move on to play the Page 1-2 game against Scotland.

The previous head-to-head results mean that Denmark, who also sat out the session, finished third overall and will now face Canada in the Page 3-4 game.