Eve Muirhead admitted that her team was struggling to cope with conditions in the Netherlands after they suffered a heavy defeat to Turkey in their second match on the Leeuwarden ice at the Olympic Qualification Event.
As they had done in their opening match against the Czech Republic, Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds and Hailey Duff won the hammer at the pre-match last stone draw, but then conceded a steal at the opening end. 
While they responded immediately by registering a two at the second to move ahead for what proved the only time in the match, they did not score again until it was too late and they conceded defeat after adding just a single point at the eighth end, at which point they were still 7-3 behind.
“We’re obviously very disappointed,” said the skip of the team that eased past the same Turkish quartet 9-4 on their way to winning the European Championships less than a fortnight ago.
“It’s conditions here that we’ve not experienced all season, in fact we’ve not experienced for years unfortunately on the circuit. It’s pretty disappointing to come here and not have nice arena conditions.”
This is the first time in her long career that Muirhead has played in the Netherlands and in an Olympic Qualification Event and she acknowledged that there will have to be a swift reaction to an environment that is very different for a group of players that is used to preparing and competing on surfaces that are designed for elite level curling.
“That’s how we’re taught to play technically and that’s how we are playing technically and it’s proving very difficult for us, but we’ve got to come together as a team and come out strong tomorrow,” she said.
“We’ve got two tough games and we’ve just got to hope that in some way we can figure things out to get through this. 
“It’s going to be difficult, it’s going to be a challenge. We know the conditions probably aren’t going to change, so we need to try to play for it to be on our side, but when you’ve always played in decent, half-decent ice conditions and find yourself facing something you don’t get at all on the circuit now, it makes it hard.”
Scotland face Korea on day three tomorrow morning and Japan later in the day.
Scotland Team (Qualifying Team GB for Beijing 2022)
Eve Muirhead
Vicky Wright
Jen Dodds
Hailey Duff
Mili Smith
Schedule:
Saturday 11 December
0800 – Session 1
Scotland v Czech Republic 7-5
Sunday 12 December
1300 – Session 3
Scotland v Turkey 3-7
Monday 13 December 
0800- Session 4
Scotland v Korea
1800 – Session 5
Scotland v Japan
Tuesday 14 December
1300 – Session 6
Scotland v Germany
Wednesday 15 December
0800 – Session 7
Scotland v Estonia
1800 – Session 8
Scotland v Latvia
Thursday 16 December
1300 – Session 9
Scotland v Italy
Friday 17 December
0900 Play-off Session 1
Saturday 18 December
0900 Play-off Session 2
Images: WCF/Steve Seixeiro
#curling #OQE2021 #Roadto2022
