A gutsy performance against a hugely experienced Japanese line-up saw Scotland's Team Henderson claim their third victory at the BKT Tires Women's World Championships in Calgary to enhance their prospects of reaching the play-offs.
As they had done the previous day, the five player combination of Fay Henderson, Laura Watt, Lisa Davie, Hailey Duff and Katie McMillan had to dig deep after a tough loss in their first match of day four, when they were beaten by a Swedish side led by newly crowned Olympic mixed doubles champion Isabella Wrana.
Up against a Japanese line-up that had claimed a World silver a decade ago and Olympic silver four years ago, they showed their mettle in a hard fought encounter which saw the teams register just a single shot apiece in the first four ends. 
The Scots then gained the upper hand when former Junior World champion skip Henderson showed real imagination to ricochet her first stone through a port for a run back, then make another take-out with her last to draw the error from opposite number Satsuki Fujisawa which brought a steal at the fifth.
It remained tight to the end, however until, with the outcome in the balance, Fujisawa came up marginally short with her attempt to raise one of her stones to out count Henderson, which was biting the button, earning Scotland the 4-3 win.
"We played an absolutely great day today," said Henderson.
"We had a really close game with Sweden this morning right down to the last stone at the extra end again so obviously it is tough to lose when we have worked so hard for the whole game but it just didn’t quite go our way and it gave us a little bit of extra fight for this evening.
"A great win tonight now just really puts us in another great position and each day just keeps the spirits high.
"We will hopefully continue to build on our performance and obviously it wasn’t a very high scoring game tonight and I didn’t exactly have to make my last shot for the win but it feels just as good as having to make that last shot for a win."
The Scots had gone into the match fully aware of the capabilities of a team that Duff had played against when winning her gold medal in the final of the Winter Olympics in 2022.
"That Japan team have been at the Olympics having won that silver medal and Hailey obviously had a couple of close battle with them in the past," Henderson observed.
"I think tonight, knowing that they have that experience, it was about trying to keep that level, match that focus and try and keep ourselves sharp.
"We had to make sure we were quite strategic with some of our calls to make sure that we could capitalise as much as possible and the steal in five was definitely a turning point. 
"Just being able to go ahead on the scoreboard and in a game that is that low scoring definitely means a lot. Because you can't afford to make any errors when the score is that tight."
On her first experience leading Scotland at a major championship at this level, Henderson said she and her teammates are revelling in the environment and the support they are receiving from Olympic Head Coach Greg Drummond and their team coach Clancy Grandy, as well as more widely.
"I think it is relatively easy to stay positive," she said.
"The vibes are good within the team and Greg and Clancy have been great for cheering us on as well.
"The fans in the stands and the support from home definitely helps the positivity as well and I think that you have just got to take a little step back from it and yes we are at the World Championships and that is what we have dreamed of, so its hard not to be positive."
Ahead of another challenging two game day against Korea and hosts Canada, she was, however, looking forward to a bit of extra time off before having to take to the ice on day five.
"One thing most people know about me is that I do love a long lie or just being in my bed generally, so I have just been looking forward to this for a couple of days now," laughed Henderson.
"It is sometimes a little hard trying to keep your eyes open towards the end of the day, so I know a long lie will definitely be appreciated and we know we have a big day tomorrow with two tough games, but we will be looking to capitalise and make the most of any mistakes and put out a really good performance ourselves and see where that takes us."
Scotland will meet all 12 of the other competing teams in the round-robin competition, with the top six qualifying for the play-offs.
The 13 nations taking part are Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkiye and the USA.
Please click here for more information about the BKT World Women’s Curling Championship, Calgary, AB (14-22 March).
Please click here for live streamed games from The Curling Channel.
Day One
Scotland – China 6-7 (EE)
Day Two
Scotland – USA 8-3
Scotland – Turkiye 3-5
Day Three
Scotland – Switzerland 5-9
Scotland – Denmark 11-5
Day Four
Scotland – Sweden 6-8 (EE)
Scotland – Japan 4-3
Day Five
Scotland – Korea 20.00 (GMT)
Scotland – Canada 01.00 (GMT)
Images: World Curling
