England’s Karen Aspey and Stewart Pimblett kept their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals alive with a 6-4 defeat of Canada in their second match of the third day of action at the SD Biosensor World Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Championships in Korea.
Their performance represented a fine recovery after they were beaten 8-4 earlier in the day by still unbeaten pool leaders the USA and they must now defeat Slovenia in their final round-robin match while hoping results elsewhere go their way if they are to make it into the play-offs at the Gangneung Curling Centre.
“I think we dominated throughout the game from start to finish and it was a professional performance,” said Pimblett. 
“There were a couple of shots we rushed at the last couple of ends, but it made us concentrate a bit more and I think we had it all in hand, because once we saw that they were having to talk a lot more the time went in our favour.”
It could have been an even better day if they had managed to build on an early 3-1 lead against the USA, but they ultimately paid for a poor third end.
“I had a moment of madness where I cleared the guards and Karen still had a draw to cut them down or even win that end but sadly she was a little bit light and a little bit inside so we gave up a four there, but we then re-grouped, stayed positive and both made some good shots,” Pimblett explained.
Whether they make it to the next phase or not, however, he believes their overall showing bodes well for the future.
“In the grand scheme of things Karen has not been curling for long and she is holding her own against the best curlers in the world, so I am really excited about the prospects for English Curling moving forwards and we are still in with a fighting chance here,” said Pimblett.
Scotland’s Charlotte McKenna and Gary Smith meanwhile saw their chances of reaching the quarter-finals disappear as they suffered defeats to both Poland (8-5) and Estonia (7-6).
“I thought we were unlucky against Poland after coming back into the game and against Estonia it was quite close all the way,” said Smith. 
“In our last couple of games we are just going to go all out to get a win on the board, then see if we can make it two from two and try to get up the table a bit and play our best, but we are a bit gutted with our results to be honest.”
Scotland’s last two matches are against Turkiye and Norway.
Please click here for LIVE streaming of games.
Please click here for more event information.
Please click here for results.
England Mixed Doubles Team
Stewart Pimblett
Karen Aspey
Team Coach Tony Lenton
Assistant Coach Rosemary Lenton
Scotland Mixed Doubles Team
Charlotte McKenna
Gary Smith
Team Coach Niall Ryder
Team Leader David Leith
Schedule
Monday 11 March
Scotland – Slovakia 3-11
England – Italy 3-12
Tuesday 12 March
England – Switzerland 6-5
Scotland – Latvia 3-6
England – Finland 8-3
Wednesday 13 March
Scotland – Poland 5-8
England – USA 4-8
Scotland – Estonia 6-7
England – Canada 6-4
Thursday 14 March
Scotland – Turkiye
England – Slovenia
Scotland – Norway
Friday 15 March
Quarter Finals
Semi Finals
Saturday 16 March
Final
Image: WCF
