Curling: Scots recover to beat Germany

BOTH the Scottish men and women lost their opening games at Le Gruyere European Curling Championships in Sweden.

Tom Brewster’s men lost out 5-6 to the Czech Republic, while defending European champion Eve Muirhead and her team lost 3-5 to Switzerland’s reigning world champions. However, the men recovered in the evening to win their second round-robin game 7-2 over Germany.

Brewster, the world silver medallist, said: “It was very important to get a win in the bag today. We were disappointed this morning but we were better there. I think we’ve still got a couple of gears to go.”

Muirhead had a chance to win with her last stone, but her strike shot pushed stones around the house the wrong way to give one shot and the game to the Swiss.

Like Brewster, she was far from despondent. “It was a good game to get the hang of the ice. It could have gone either way.” On her last-stone loss, she added: “It was a tough shot for the two, but it was just one of those things.”

Next up for the Scottish women are games against Italy and Finland.