Scottish skip Ewan MacDonald claimed his first win in four attempts at the World Men’s Curling Championships but he insists his sigh of relief cannot afford to last long in Beijing.
After three straight defeats to Sweden, China and Japan, MacDonald’s rink began the third day against Switzerland but once again got off to a less than desirable start.
Switzerland scored three in the first and fourth ends to take a 6-2 lead with MacDonald taking a risk in the seventh in an attempt to claw Scotland back into the match.
His missed a tricky double for three and allowed Switzerland to move 8-4 ahead while it was 9-6 going into the tenth but where three-time world champion MacDonald rose to the occasion.
Switzerland’s fourth player Benoit Schwarz picked up on his last attempted take-out to win the game leaving MacDonald with a draw for three to tie the score at 9-9.
Scotland stole one in the extra end for a 10-9 win to get up and running in Beijing but skip MacDonald knows they must now go forwards and not backwards in the Far East.
“We’ve been battling really hard and a couple of misses in the first end got us in trouble again, but we’re not playing badly,” said MacDonald.
“It’s a massive relief to get a win on the board and we’ve got to build from here. We definitely got a break. When you get a wee break like that, you’ve got to take it, and thankfully we did.
“But we showed a lot of character and kept working away, you just never know what’s going to happen, you just keep with them and keep digging and asking the question.
“We left him a tough shot and that’s all you can ask for.”
© Sportsbeat 2014