After a string of narrow defeats at the SD Biosensor World Wheelchair Championships, Scotland has finally got their first win on the board with a dominant display against Canada.
The fourth day of action had begun disappointingly once again when a powerful comeback against the USA that had seen them battle back from a 6-0 deficit, to take a lead into the final end was thwarted when their opponents registered a match-winning two to run out 7-6 winners.
It was the fourth time in the course of the week that last year’s bronze medallists had lost by a single shot which could have had a demoralising effect as they prepared to meet their country’s greatest traditional curling rivals.
Instead, however, with Meggan Dawson-Farrell and Robert McPherson consistently setting up ends well, the precision play of skip Hugh Nibloe and vice skip Gregor Ewan saw them take control of their meeting with Canada from the outset and never relinquish control as they ran out 8-2 winners.
“It was good to eventually get that first win on the board, against Canada as well,” said Nibloe.
“They are one of the best teams in the world –probably only second to China, so it was good to finally get off the mark against them.
“I felt that all four players on the ice had a good game at the same time and we carried through seven ends of play and really put pressure on Canada to make them play the difficult shots and leave ourselves the easy shots in the main.
“Right from the off we made Jon (Thurston) the Canadian skip face five with his first shot and in that first end that set the tone for the game with a level of performance that we managed to maintain throughout.
“That is something that we have to carry forward in our remaining matches.”
He acknowledged that the way the day’s previous match had ended felt all too familiar.
“The USA game was tough but a similar story to what has happened here all week,” said Nibloe.
“We gave ourselves too much to do, but did well to get back into that game and were pretty close to almost getting a steal in the final end.
“It was another game where we couldn’t put strong performances together and we managed to get one or two or three playing in an end, but weren’t getting all four playing at the same time, so it was a tough one to take.
“However, we learnt from it and we managed to battle back and play well in the Canada game.”
As they prepare to meet Estonia and Sweden on day five, Nibloe is hoping they have now set a standard that they can maintain into the closing stages of the competition.
“I guess it has been an upward trajectory all day since the half time break against the USA and we absolutely said that performance was the standard and we are really fighting now,” he said.
“We have four huge games coming up and every one of them is going to be vital as we try to achieve something now.
“We really have to carry that performance forward against Estonia and hopefully with some momentum kicking in we will carry that through the three games after that one.
“It really is about concentrating on that Estonia game and with a four game run coming up, four games in about 30 hours, I would like to see us make the most of our rest tonight and hopefully set us up for a good run to finish the round robin.
“The locker room was in higher spirits tonight and it was good to see what we can perform like.
“It’s frustrating it has taken us so long, but we have set a standard now and hopefully we have let people know what we are about and it is up to us now to carry that forward and hopefully finish strongly.”
The team event at the Championships continues until March 9 and is then followed by the mixed doubles which take place from March 11-14 March, with home nations Scotland and England in a field of 21 teams.
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Scotland Team
Hugh Nibloe
Gregor Ewan
Robert McPherson
Meggan Dawson Farrell
Gary Smith (alternate)
Team Leader David Leith
Team Coach Luke Carson
Scotland Mixed Doubles Team
Charlotte McKenna
Gary Smith
Team Coach Niall Ryder
England Mixed Doubles Team
Stewart Pimblett
Karen Aspey
Team Coach Tony Lenton
Assistant Coach Rosemary Lenton
Schedule
Saturday 2 March
Session 1 – 5am (GMT)
Scotland – Latvia 5 - 6
Session 2 -10am (GMT)
Scotland – Norway 5 – 6 (EE)
Sunday 3 March
Session 4 – 5am (GMT)
Scotland – Italy 3-6
Monday 4 March
Session 6 – 12 midnight (GMT)
Scotland – Korea 2-6
Session 8 – 10am (GMT)
Scotland – Czechia 5-6
Tuesday 5 March
Session 9 - 12 midnight (GMT)
Scotland – USA 6-7
Session 11 – 10am (GMT)
Scotland – Canada 8-2
Wednesday 6 March
Session 13 – 5am (GMT)
Scotland – Estonia
Session 14 – 10am (GMT)
Scotland – Sweden
Thursday 7 March
Session 15 – 12 midnight (GMT)
Scotland – Slovakia
Session 16 – 5am (GMT)
Scotland – China
Friday 8 March
Qualifications – 5am (GMT)
Semi Finals – 10am (GMT)
Saturday 9 March
Final – 2am (GMT)
Image: WCF
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