A draw to the four foot with the final stone of the eighth end from skip Hugh Nibloe earned Scotland a victory over England that nudged them ahead of their neighbours in the battle for play-off places at the World Wheelchair Championships in Stevenston.
It was, however, a case of honours even across the day with both teams having faced Canada earlier in the day, England emerging 10-5 winners in their encounter, before the Scots went down 12-6.
That meant the nations that are historically auld enemies, but in modern day curling are friends and colleagues on the British Curling programme, went into their evening meeting with identical records of three wins and three losses, both very much in contention for the knockout stages.
It was a close fought game throughout, Scotland scoring two at the opening end and restricting their opponents to one at the next, only to then concede a steal of two to fall behind for the only time on the night. 
A two at the fourth took them to the midway break leading 4-3 and after England levelled at the fifth, another two at the sixth gave Hugh Nibloe, Gary Smith, Austin McKenzie and Jo Butterfield a crucial advantage.
After they once again held England to a single score at the seventh, they went down the last with a 6-5 lead and the last stone advantage that Nibloe made tell.
“I was happy to get the draw, which took a wee bit of pressure off us, because if I hadn’t got it we were going to an extra end, so it needed to be made,” said the Scotland skip.
“It was just one of those stones that when it left the cue I felt ‘I think we’re good.’”
That went a long way towards making up for their earlier loss, the only consolation in the course of that defeat to Canada having been that they took the opportunity to give alternate Keith Gray some ice time.
“It was a really disappointing start to the day,” said Nibloe.
“We didn’t perform anywhere near the way we want to play and it was tough.
“We had a good chat after the game against Canada and got ourselves fully focused on tonight’s game against England.”
Having come through that match, the two-time Paralympian was also able to look to the bigger picture and the strength in depth being generated in the British Curling squad whose attention will hopefully switch to the battle for places in the ParalympicsGB squad once this event is over.
“England have been going really, really well,” Nibloe said of the way Stewart Pimblett, Jason Kean, Julian Mattison, Karen Aspey and their alternate Jean Guild have stepped up to this week’s challenge after qualifying through the World B Championships earlier this season.
“Both teams can look up and try to go for the play-offs here and I don’t think this result will be too damaging to them over the week, because I expect them to bounce back well again.
“They’ve had a few good results, especially against Canada today where they showed what they can do.
“That bodes well for next season for the Paralympic team. 
“We’re going to have all of the athletes together to pick a squad from, at least 10 who have competed at World Championships, plus those that aren’t here at this event.
“So, we’re going to have a lot of experience to pick from and a good standard of player.
“I’ll hopefully be on that journey in a couple of weeks time once these World Championships are over, but we now wish England all the best and hopefully both of us can be there or thereabouts at the end of the week.”
Scotland face Latvia and Italy on day five of the round-robin, while England take on Sweden and Slovakia.
The World Championships four player team event runs until March 8 and will be followed by the Mixed Doubles from March 11-16.
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Watch LIVE streamed games on Curling Stadium Europe and The Curling Channel.
Feature games are as follows:
5th March - Scotland v Italy - 14:30
6th March - England v Korea - 14:30
7th March - Qualifier - 10:00
7th March - Semi - 18:00
8th March - Bronze - 10:00
8th March - Gold - 14:30
Day One
Saturday 1 March
Scotland – China 3-2
England – Latvia 5-8
England – Norway (EE) 6-8
Day Two
Sunday 2 March
Scotland – Japan 7-5
England – USA 10-1
Scotland – USA (EE) 5-6
Day Three
Monday 3 March
England – China 1-6
Scotland – Korea 7-1
Scotland – Sweden 5-9
England – Italy 6-4
Day Four
Tuesday 4 March
England – Canada 10-5
Scotland – Canada 6-12
Scotland – England 7-5
Day Five
Wednesday 5 March
Scotland – Latvia
England – Sweden
Scotland – Italy
England - Slovakia
Day Six
Thursday 6 March
Scotland – Norway
England – Korea
Scotland – Slovakia
Day Seven
Friday 7 March
Qualification games – 10.00
Semi Finals – 18.00
Day Eight
Saturday 8 March
Bronze Medal Match – 10.00
Gold Medal Match – 14.30
Scotland Team
Hugh Nibloe (skip)
Gary Smith
Austin McKenzie (vice skip)
Jo Butterfield
Keith Gray (alternate)
Scotland Mixed Doubles Team
Hugh Nibloe (skip)
Charlotte McKenna
Coaches:
Head Coach: Sheila Swan
Team Coach: Niall Ryder
England Team
Stewart Pimblett skip
Karen Aspey
Julian Mattison
Jason Kean
Jean Guild (alternate)
England Mixed Doubles Team
Stewart Pimblett skip
Karen Aspey
Coaches:
Head Coach: Tony Lenton
Coach: Rosemary Lenton
Coach: Luke Carson
For more information on our Paralympic Pathway Programme and opportunities please email: Cheryl.lappin@britishcurling.org.uk
Images: @tdf_photography3
