Bruce Mouat says Team GB’s curling team face two must-win matches if they are to keep their Milano Cortina 2026 medal hopes alive.
Mouat’s squad lost 7-6 to Norway and have fallen to fifth in the table, with just four sides moving through to the semi-finals and a guaranteed medal match.
Team GB, made up of skip Mouat, Grant Hardie, Hammy McMillan Jr and Bobby Lammie, have just two matches remaining, against Canada on Tuesday and USA on Wednesday.
Mouat blamed himself for their third defeat in four games, with a couple of marginal misses proving costly.
However, he remains confident they can get on a roll.
“I am very disappointed in myself,” he said.
“I didn't have my best performance and it’s tough to miss those shots and especially the eighth end is the tough one.
“I'm probably going to dwell on a bit but I'll try and forget about it and come back tomorrow and hopefully perform a bit better.
“I feel like they are must-win. We're probably going to play them as if they're playoff games. We're going to just try and win four games in the bounce and see if hopefully it works.”
Team GB made a solid start and built a 4-2 lead after six ends.
They appeared in control but the match flipped on its head when Norway scored two points in each of the following two.
Mouat's attempted triple takeout in the ninth end marginally missed but meant the score was equal going into the last.
However, Norway held their nerve with the hammer to close out an unexpected victory.
“If we played at our usual level we would have won and unfortunately we didn't do that today,” said Hardie.
“I think in stages we did but there were key moments we didn't execute the shots we had to.
“Fair play to Norwegian guys. They played a great game and took advantage of our misses and yeah, a great shot to win as well.”