Locals book semi spots
Success in Euro contest
Eve Muirhead has guided her team into the semi-final. Picture: WCF/Richard Gray Perthshire curlers Eve Muirhead and Kyle Smith remained ice-cool to book their place in the semi-finals of the European Curling Championships in St Gallen.
After losing her first round robin game against Sweden, Blair Atholl skip Eve carved out six wins on the bounce to comfortably advance to the last four.
A defeat by hosts Switzerland left the quartet of Eve, Anna Sloan, Lauren Gray and Vicki Adams sitting on a record of won six, lost two.
The Scottish women’s representatives will head into the Friday semi-final with confidence and hopes of building on last year’s bronze medal at Braehead.
Speaking after the lastend 9-7 loss to the Swiss, Eve said: “It was a good game and some of our shots were just the wrong side of an inch.
“At the third end all the angles were not on our side but I am just disappointed as it was one of those games where it came down to the odd shot here and there.
“However, the tough games will come down to the smallest of margins.
“This game came down
Results
Kyle Smith Picture: WCF/Celine Stucki to the last shot at the last end but it is good to be tested and it keeps us sharp coming into the business end of the week.”
Eve and Co had cruised to their sixth consecutive victory in the tournament when they beat the Czech Republic to qualify for the play-off stages earlier on Wednesday. And they finished up with an easy win against Hungary.
“Since we dropped that first game to Sweden we’ve built a lot of momentum,” Eve said. “We’re in a good flow and we’re making a lot of good shots.”
Team Smith, fronted by Guildtown’s Kyle Smith, defeated the Netherlands 5-2 in the last round robin match to stunningly seal their last four ticket.
The squad of Kyle, Cammy Smith, Thomas Muirhead and Kyle Waddell finished with a group record of six wins and three losses.
They had little time for rest and were back on the ice last night for their semi-final clash with Switzerland.
Skip Kyle was thrilled to advance to the last four following the Netherlands win and said: “I am delighted and glad that this was in our hands to qualify and we made it.
“At the last Europeans we had five must-win games in a row. Here it was one so we had an easier task and the boys played really well after what was a bit of a hairy start.
“The second end was not looking good but I got the bale out and we dominated from that point on.
“Cammy made some great set-ups and the boys made all their peels, which made my job easy.
“Throwing that last stone to secure the match, I just had to stay in the moment and it feels good to be in the semi finals.
“Switzerland will be good opposition but we will go away and get our preps right. We feel ready for it.”
Team Smith’s coach Viktor Kjell added: “We have achieved our first goal which was to make the play-offs. That was step one.” Scotland’s European Curling Championships results: Day 1: (M) Scotland v Austria 7-2, (W) Scotland v Sweden 2-5, (M) Scotland v Italy 7-3. Day 2: (W) Scotland v Russia 8-7, (M) Scotland v Russia 5-3, (W) Scotland v Denmark 6-1. Day 3: (M) Scotland v Germany 4-6, (W) Scotland v Italy 8-1, (M) Scotland v Slovakia 8-1, (W) Scotland v Germany 8-5. Day 4: (M) Scotland v Sweden 4-5, (W) Scotland v Turkey 8-3, (M) Scotland v Norway 8-7. Day 5: (W) Scotland v Czech Republic 8-4, (M) Scotland v Switzerland 4-9, (W) Scotland v Switzerland 7-9.
Day 6: (M) Scotland v Netherlands 5-2. (W) Scotland v Hungary 9-3.