TEAM GB’S WOMEN HIT DOUBLE FIGURES TO END STRONG AMERICAN RUN

Four-time Olympian Eve Muirhead put her experience to good use as she led her team of Games debutants to an impressive 10-5 win over previously unbeaten USA to move into the top half of the table with a record of two wins and two losses in Beijing’s Ice Cube.

It was a crucial match for the British team, following their defeat to Korea the previous day and the skip was pleased with the mindset of teammates Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds and Hailey Duff as they found excellent form from the start, after having a long gap between matches to contemplate their situation after losing two of their first three matches.

The attitude generated was summed up by the least experienced of the on-ice quartet Hailey Duff, whose inclusion is the one change in their line-up since last year’s run at the World Championships.

“The girls have made it really easy for me just to feel comfortable and natural, as we’ve been playing all season,” said the 25-year-old.

“It’s even better when you’ve all played well and you know you’ve all put in a lot of effort to get the win.”

Her skip duly expressed full satisfaction in the way they applied themselves to move into a share of fifth spot in the standings alongside defending champions Sweden, who were shocked by the hosts as China claimed their first win of the event. 

“After yesterday’s defeat we knew we had to come out sharp tonight,” said Muirhead.

“We did a lot of great chatting after last night’s game, then had most of the day off today, so that’s been a great time for us to prepare for tonight and the girls played fantastic.

“They made my job easy which is always nice and it was an important game against unbeaten USA.”

Starting with last stone advantage, they capitalised on that to score a two at the opening end, but got properly on top at the second as precision curling saw them out-manoeuvre their opponents, leaving American skip in a difficult position and after she did little to improve her team’s position with her first stone, Muirhead’s well placed guard left her trying a high risk promotion of a British guard which failed to impact the head.

From there it was about scoreboard management and while, after a blanked third end, the Americans did manage to register twos at the fourth and sixth ends, sandwiching a single point end for Team GB, the British women re-established control with a two at the seventh then, after forcing at the eighth, killed off the match with a three at the ninth.

“It is good to take this momentum into the week and I think it’s important that we do that,” said Muirhead.

“We have to go back and remember the good things in that game. I think sometimes you dwell too much on the mistakes and what you did wrong, but this time we can focus on what we did well and then continue that tomorrow.”

While Muirhead has a strong record against the skip of their next opponents, Madeleine Dupont, the Danish woman claimed one of only two wins against the Scot at last year’s World Championships, so there is no danger of under-estimating the task in hand.

“Denmark will be another really tough game, as they all are here. Denmark have won out there and they’ve given Switzerland a tough game tonight, so we know what they can do, but if we come out with the fire, the same attitude, the same belief in ourselves I do believe we’ll give ourselves the best opportunity to win,” said the British skip.