Eve Muirhead was left bemoaning the finest margins as Scotland had to settle for silver at the European Curling Championships.
Scotland knew they would be up against it in the final against a strong Russian side, and it was a tight game from the very start as after six ends Muirhead and co trailed 4-3.
The Scots blanked the seventh end but then the turning point of the game came in the eighth end, when Muirhead attempted a double take-out which just missed its second target stone, giving Russia a steal of one and a 5-3 lead.
Muirhead could only draw for one point in the ninth end, giving the Russians a 5-4 lead as well as last stone advantage in the tenth.
And when Muirhead was short with her final draw of the tenth, she left the Russians with a stone in counting position, meaning the Russian team could celebrate their win without having to deliver their last stone.
“I came a centimetre away from making it pay in that eighth end,” said Muirhead. “Silver’s not what we wanted and I thought we were good enough to get that gold medal but Russia did play great out there.
“Anna Sidorova was fantastic and we just weren’t good enough. When you’re that close to making a big end and you don’t make it, it’s tough.
“It’s going to take a long time to forget it, but we’ve got a long season ahead of us and we will keep fighting hard.”
And despite winning a second European title of her career, Russian Sidorova was full of praise for her Scottish opponents.
“They really are such great competitors,” Sidorova said. “We’ve played against them a couple times this year and they are a really tough team to play.
“If you want to beat them you have to be even better, and that’s not easy.”
Sportsbeat 2015