Team Mouat strengthened their position at the top of the standings at the Le Gruyere AOL European Curling Championships with victories over the Netherlands and Germany on day three in Lillehammer.
Starting the day as the only unbeaten team in the men’s event, Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan began impressively against the Dutch, registering a four at the opening end and they were never threatened before wrapping up a 9-2 win with a three at the sixth end.
Given the attritional nature of major championship with their 10 end matches, there has been a bonus in the way they have set out in Lillehammer with early finishes in every match and that trend continued against Germany, albeit they were made to work harder for that win. 
It looked as if it would be another comfortable evening for the Scots when they registered a two at the opening end, then stole at each of the next two ends to move into a 4-0 lead.
However, the Germans battled back, scoring a two at the fourth end and then, after Mouat’s men matched that at the fifth, a three at the sixth to get within a shot at 6-5.
That seemed to sting the Scots into upping their game, however and after edging further ahead at the seventh, they finished things off with a three at the eighth to finish 10-5 winners.
“That was another good win against some tough opposition in the Germans,” Mouat said afterwards.
“They really showed up in the middle section and we missed a few shots to let them back into the game. Our play was pretty ropey at times, but we got away with some shots and were just the wrong side of the inch with a few others. 
“It felt like we were still playing really good stuff, though and it was another eight end game, which is nice to have instead of going the distance because it again gives us a wee bit of a break.”
That match took them into the second half of the round-robin competition, with just four more matches, while understandably pleased with how they have positioned themselves so far, matching Scotland’s women in winning five matches to be the only unbeaten team in their competition, Mouat remains wary.
“At the halfway stage we’re feeling pretty confident, but we’ve got quite a few tough games coming up with Denmark, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic so we’re still going to have to play our best to beat them and hopefully put ourselves in a good spot for the semi-finals,” he said.
“We’re happy to have that 100 per cent record right now and we’re just going to try to be a bit more clinical than we were today.
“The ice has been really good and we’re very happy with how we’re feeling out there and we’re making a lot of shots and we’re in a good spot and feeling we’re playing well enough to continue winning.”
#curling #ECC2021 
Scotland Team
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Ross Whyte (alternate)
PHOTO: WCF / CELINE STUCKI
Schedule and Results
Saturday 20 November
W Scotland v Russia 7-4
M Scotland v Sweden 6-2
W Scotland v Denmark 8-2
Sunday 21 November
M Scotland v Finland 6-2
W Scotland v Sweden 8-5
M Scotland v Italy 7-2
Monday 22 November
W Scotland v Germany 9-5
M Scotland v Netherlands 9-2
W Scotland v Estonia 10-3
M Scotland v Germany 10-5
Tuesday 23 November
W Scotland v Italy 8am
M Scotland v Denmark 1pm
W Scotland v Czech Republic 6pm
Wednesday 24 November
M Scotland v Switzerland 8am
W Scotland v Switzerland 1pm
M Scotland v Czech Republic 6pm
Thursday 25 November
W Scotland v Turkey 7am
M Scotland v Norway 11am
W Semi Final 2 v 3 3pm
W Semi Final 1 v 4 7pm
Friday 26 November
M Semi Final 2 v 3 8am
M Semi Final 1 v 4 12.30pm
W Bronze medal game 5pm
Saturday 27 November
M Bronze medal game 8am
W Gold medal game 11.30am
M Gold medal game 4pm
