England’s wheelchair curlers have stayed in contention to join the elite of the global game when they claimed a place in the semi-finals at the World Wheelchair B Championships in Finland.
Stewart Pimblett, George Potts, Julian Mattison, Karen Aspey and Jason Kean went into the final day of round-robin matches in Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja knowing that they held their destiny in their own hands and that wins over both Spain and Estonia would secure a play-off place.
That, in turn, brings with it the chance to secure one of the last three places at the World Wheelchair Championships in Stevenston, Scotland later this season.
Any other combination of results would, however, leave them depending on help from elsewhere, but they got the first half of the job done against Spain in a match of dramatic swings of momentum.
They had looked set for a comfortable win when they followed a score of three at the opening end with a steal at the next. 
However, things looked radically different two ends later when their opponents scored four to level at the next end, then grabbed an unlikely steal of four at the next to completely turn the tables at the halfway mark.
Cool heads prevailed, however as they gradually undid the damage, scoring two at the first end after the break, stealing one at the next and two more at the seventh to go down the final end 9-8 ahead.
With the Spaniards holding last stone advantage the outcome was still in the balance, but this time England maintained the momentum to register a decisive steal of four at the last to run out 13-8 winners.
They then put themselves in an even stronger position when they secured second spot in the overall Draw Shot Challenge standings with their final draws to the button ahead of the last match, which meant they could only be eliminated if hosts Finland suffered a shock loss to Thailand, who went into the final round of matches without a win in the event.
Despite dominating the first half of that game, the Estonians battled back after the break setting up a sequence of steals to take the game to an extra end to secure a 9-7 win, but England could relax in the knowledge that Switzerland, the only team that could still have overhauled them, lost out 10-4 to Poland, while the Finns beat Thailand 10-3, leaving them doubly secure.
That meant that England had secured the final play-off spot to join USA, Japan and Czechia in the semi finals and while England Coach Tony Lenton had hoped the team would secure back to back wins on the final day of the round robin, he was pleased that they recovered from the tricky position they found themselves in during the crucial match against Spain.
“Full marks to the team for knuckling down to get out of the situation they found themselves in that earlier game,” he said.
“We need to try at all costs to avoid those situations now we are into the business end of the week so we don’t have to extricate ourselves from those challenging moments when the pressure is mounting.”
With the play-off teams having all beaten one another in the round robin stages, Lenton now believes England have everything to play for when they meet the USA in their semi final tomorrow.
“We know that the USA will be out to avenge that defeat to us earlier in the week, so we just have to maintain the composure we have shown today to give them another good game.
“It is a long week out here and full credit to the team for sticking at it, not getting downhearted if results didn’t go their way and that tenacity has got them into the play-offs.
“In many ways it feel like time for a re-set. This event is like three competitions, the draw shot challenge (DSC) and the round robin and then finally the semi finals and final, each one with their own importance.
“We draw a line under the DSC and round robin as they are irrelevant now and it is game on for tomorrow.
Japan will meet Czechia in the other semi final tomorrow.
England Team
Stewart Pimblett
George Potts
Julian Mattison
Karen Aspey
Jason Kean
Tony Lenton – England Coach
Rosemary Lenton – England Assistant Coach
Sheila Swan – British Curling Paralympic Head Coach
Results:
Day One
England – Poland 10-1
England – Finland 7-4
Day Two
England – Switzerland L/W
England – USA 6-3
Day Three
England – Hong Kong – China 12-0
England – Japan 2-5
Day Four
England – Thailand 17-0
England – Czechia 4-9
Day Five
England – Spain 13-8
England – Estonia 7-9 (EE)
Day Six
Semi Final
England – USA
Japan – Czechia
Finals
Please click here for results
Image: PPA/Graeme Hart
