Scotland skip Eve Muirhead has urged her troops to keep their foot on the accelerator after a 7-3 victory over Denmark ensured they will finish top of the pile in the round-robin phase of the European Championship in Braehead.
Muirhead and her rink had already secured a semi-final spot by beating Czech Republic 10-5 in the morning session but the convincing win over the Danes means they will rank as number one regardless of what happens in their final round-robin game against Russia on Thursday.
Scotland scored two in the first end and another two in the fifth to establish a 4-2 lead although Denmark narrowed the deficit to 4-3 in the eighth after a pair of blanked ends.
A beautiful tap-back by Muirhead in the ninth end then gave the Scots three shots and at 7-3 behind, the Danes promptly conceded – leaving the 26-year-old to reflect on a job well done.
“We went out there and wanted to get number one if we could, and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” said Muirhead.
“I’m pleased with the way the girls played and everything’s coming together nicely – this is the stage where you want to do that.
“You’ve got to stay focussed because if you make any kind of mistake they’ll jump on it. We just need to keep going strong for another few days, and not take our foot off the pedal at all.
“This is the important part of the week, so we need not to slacken off at all. We need to get as few more ‘W’s’ and as long as you win your last one, you’re good.”
Meanwhile it was a mixed bag for Tom Brewster’s Scottish men as they won one and lost one on Thursday to miss out on a place in the semi-finals, finishing sixth overall.
The rink had overcome Italy 6-4 in the afternoon session to keep their play-off hopes alive, thanks to a draw for one in the tenth end.
However, they couldn’t beat Russia on Wednesday evening, losing a hard-fought clash 8-6 to end their European Championship.
Brewster’s final draw in the tenth end slipped through the house to hand Russia victory and a place in the last-four, much to the skip’s frustration.
Brewster said: “We had the game, we had the win. It felt like I threw it the same as the one directly before and it just went heavy.
“It felt exactly the same throw, the sweepers like it but it just slid on. I felt we were the better team and we played pretty solid.
“We had the whole four-foot and I was happy with that. I’ve been drawing well all week – I didn’t see that coming.”
Sportsbeat 2016