A perfectly weighted draw with her final shot of the match saw Katie McMillan steal a second victory for Scotland at the ACE & Company World Mixed Doubles Championships in Geneva, edging out Finland 8-7 in their only match of day three.
McMillan and partner Angus Bryce had gone into the match knowing they needed a victory to re-establish themselves as play-off contenders after a tough second day had seen them lose to both Korea and Switzerland.
They could hardly have started better, winning the pre-match draw shot challenge with the best combination of deliveries by any team in the competition so far to earn last stone advantage at the opening end. 
“We had a good practice and a very good draw shot, so we can’t complain at that,” said Bryce, noting that they had also potentially improved their tie-break situation by moving up to second place in the draw shot table overall.
“That might also come into play if we get a few more wins on the board and it helps getting draw weight so early on.
“We then started off pretty well, getting good draws in there, so that was pretty handy.”
After moving into a 4-1 lead and retaining the upper hand at the halfway stage after the Finns scored two using their powerplay at the fourth end, they got into difficulties by losing two consecutive steals of two at the fifth and sixth ends.
However, as well as they had started, they finished even stronger, McMillan’s delicately weighted take out nudging an opposing stone that was sitting at the top of the button, through a narrow gap between two Scottish stones to secure a three and level the scores at the seventh end, before she then produced what proved to be the match-winner after Lotta Immonen’s final stone of the match caught a guard.
“It was a tricky game in the middle few ends,” Bryce acknowledged.
“Losing the steals wasn’t part of the plan, but we just put our head down, gave it our all and Katie put her last one in almost the perfect spot, asked the question and it paid off.”
The Scots now face Czechia (9am BST) and unbeaten Canada (6pm BST) as they look to strengthen their play-off prospects on day four.
“There were a lot of positives from last night’s game and this one today, so if we can take those and build on them them tomorrow will hopefully be a good day and we can keep ourselves in contention,” said Bryce.
20 nations are taking part in The ACE & Company World Mixed Doubles Championships: Italy, Scotland, Australia, Estonia, United States, Canada, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Finland, Switzerland, Korea, Japan, Germany, Denmark, Czechia, China, France, Hungary and the Netherlands.
Please click here for more information about the ACE & Company World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, 25 April – 2 May, Geneva Switzerland 
Watch LIVE games on the Curling Channel
Schedule and results:
Day 1 – 25 April
Scotland v USA – 12-2
Day 2 – 26 April
Scotland v Korea – 4-10
Scotland v Switzerland – 6-8
Day 3 – 27 April
Scotland v Finland – 8-7
Day 4 – 28 April
Scotland v Czechia - 0900 GMT
Scotland v Canada – 1800 GMT
Day 5 – 29 April
Scotland v Hungary – 1300 GMT
Day 6 – 30 April
Scotland v Germany - 0900 GMT
Scotland v Italy - 1800 GMT
Day 7 – 1 May
Qualifications - 0900 GMT
Semi Finals – 1800 GMT
Day 8 – 2 May
Bronze – 0900 GMT
Gold – 1300 GMT
