GB curlers return home empty handed
Mackay urges players to stay on winning form
Disappointed Team GB curlers headed home from PyeongChang at the weekend after missing out on Olympic medals.
Both the men and women, who train at the National Academy in Stirling, had high hopes of success but the men’s rink led by Kyle Smith went out in a play-off against Switzerland while there was double hurt for Eve Muirhead’s team who lost in the semi-final to Sweden then the bronze play-off to Japan.
Stirling Albion manager Dave Mackay has urged his side to maintain their winning run after they notched up a fifth straight victory on Saturday.
The Binos beat Clyde 2-1 thanks to goals from Darren Smith and Peter MacDonald and went into last night’s home game against Edinburgh City on the best current winning streak of any SPFL side.
Albion are due to travel to Berwick on Saturday and Elgin on Tuesday, March 6, and are looking good for a play-off place after an impressive win over Clyde.
Mackay said: “We looked a real threat every time we went forward and caused them problems. The whole work rate was good. There is a real togetherness among the players and they are doing the dirty side of the game well.
“We’ve looked so much better defensively recently. Ross McGeachie has moved back to right-back and has been excellent there, Lee Hamilton has been outstanding at centre-half and has been one of our best players all season.
“Darren Barr has used his experience and I thought that was Ewan McNeil’s best game for a long time. The back four were excellent and they gave us that platform to go and win the game.”
Although they lost to Sweden in the group stage, Muirhead’s rink went into the semi-final on the back of three successive victories.
But a disastrous seventh end when the Swedes scored three against the hammer to go 8-3 up was crucial and the team of Lauren Gray, Vicki Adams, Anna Sloan and Muirhead were unable to pull it back.
It left them with the chance to win a second consecutive bronze medal when they met Japan in the play-off.
In a tense match, it went down
He added: “George Stanger did well coming back into the midfield. He is a very good player and is obviously full-time now with Hamilton. He has been rewarded for his good play in the youth teams and for Scotland Schoolboys as well.
“He is a player who was probably always going to move on at some point and he has gone to a good club because they will give him a chance. He is playing a lot of U20 games for them and doing really well so there was no problem putting him in there.
“The last two games Kevin Moon has been outstanding as has Danny Jardine, although we didn’t get him on the ball as much on Saturday.”
The Binos boss felt a few decisions went against his side against Clyde, not least when Peter MacDonald was booked for diving when he appeared to be tripped in the box.
He said: “I think it’s a penalty because the player does hit him. Peter maybe exaggerates it a bit by the way he goes down but there is definitely contact and the defender said there was contact.
“We’ve also scored another goal when the ball was a foot over the line - even their players afterwards are saying it’s a goal.”
Albion endured a run of just one win in nine matches before beating bottom club Cowdenbeath 1-0 at the end of January and that scrambled three points proved the start of the revival. to the final stone. At 4-3 down, skip Muirhead had a chance to either level and take the match to an extra end, or go for the two scores that would have earned Britain bronze.
But she misjudged her effort and Japan took the final point.
“I am absolutely devastated,” she said afterwards. “I am gutted. Gutted for myself, for my team, for everyone that’s helped us on the journey.
“The shot was there and we went for it. We went out to get that end and, as a skip, it’s hard when you miss the last shot.”
Mackay added: “We are eight points clear of Elgin in fifth now and when you look back five weeks ago it was looking a bit shaky as to whether we would even make the play-offs but I always felt we had the quality to go on a run and we’ve done that.”
Meanwhile, there was mixed news on the injury front, with skipper Willie Robertson close to a return but Andy Black and Sean Dickson face longer spells on the sidelines.
Mackay added: “It is good news about Willie’s thigh injury. He’s had a scan and should only be out for a couple of weeks.
“Sean Dickson will be a little bit longer – maybe four weeks with his knee – but again it’s not as bad as first feared.
“Andy Black broke his collarbone in training on Thursday night so he’ll be out for six weeks at least. It was just a collision with Cammy Binnie, similar to Sean. Cammy has wiped the two of them out in two training sessions so hopefully that’s the last of it!”
Striker Andy Little returned after 10 months out when he came on as a substitute at the weekend and his manager said: “I’m really pleased for Andy because it’s been a long time and I’m sure there was a lot of soul-searching and wondering if he was going to get back but he was determined and it’s great to see him. He is fit to hopefully play a big part in the run-in.”
Both teams are back on the ice this weekend in the Scottish Curling World Championship play-offs at the Dewar Centre, Perth.
The national championships took place during PyeongChang and the Olympians will meet the Scottish title-holders in a bestof-three event with the winners representing Scotland at the World Championships.
Team Smith will meet Bruce Mouat’s rink - featuring Active Stirling curling development officer Hammy McMillan while Eve Muirhead’s team are up against Sophie Jackson’s rink.