Britain’s curling teams, made up entirely of Scots, made good progress yesterday.
Eve Muirhead led her women’s team to an 8-7 win over China before David Murdoch’s men’s rink secured a 5-3 victory over the United States. It put the men into joint second place on the round-robin standings.
Although the final score-line was tight, Muirhead and her women’s team controlled their game against China. Muirhead turned the tide in the fourth end when her last stone came tight round two guards and chipped out a Chinese stone to score two for a 4-3 lead.
In the ninth, China’s skip Bingyu Wang played a tap-up to level the score at 7-7. Having last-stone advantage, the British knew they should keep the last end simple and they were helped when second player Vicky Adams cleared two Chinese stones out of the house. Muirhead had a draw to the four-foot for the one point that produced the 8-7 victory.
Speaking about the last end in particular, Muirhead said: “I love it when my team plays so great.
“Vicky played a fantastic double-rip that really opened up that last end. It left me a draw to the four-foot, which, as a skip, is a routine shot.
“The sweepers looked after it really well and Anna called the line great – it was a real team effort.”
She added: “I was really pleased with that. It was a solid performance and we realised how important that game was. it was essential for us to get a win there.
“Yes, we dropped our games against Sweden and Canada but they’re two tough nations. We know we didn’t play great, we know we can play a lot better against them if we come up against them again.”
Murdoch’s men actually stole more points without last-stone advantage.
By the time the game had reached the eighth end, Murdoch had a three-point lead at 5-2. The US could only score a single point in the ninth end and then ran out of stones in the 10th, giving the British men their fourth win so far.
A delighted Murdoch said: “That was a commanding performance. I think we dominated from start to finish.
“We were aggressive in the first five ends and got our lead and we were clinical after that. We had some great shot-making and I thought Greg Drummond was on fire.”
When reminded that he had more steals than hammers, he said: “It’s not often you can say that but it’s good to see. It means we’re drawing well and getting our rocks in perfect spots and causing them all sorts of trouble.”
He added: “I think we’re gradually getting stronger. We’ll need to be, we’ve got a lot of tough games to come. It’s all about momentum. If we can keep going the way we are then we’re in a good place. I think we’re very comfortable with the situation right now.
“We’re up there near the top and if you’d said that at the start of the week I’d be very happy with that. We’ve got a good formula going now, so it’s just keep doing what we’re doing.”