A 9-7 loss to Canada left Scotland’s Team Carson a win short of securing their place in the play-offs at the World Junior Championships in Cortina, but the all-teenage team immediately re-set sights on finishing their round-robin campaign in style to power their medal bid.
After losing out in the last stone draw competition which decides which team starts with the hammer and last stone advantage, Carson brothers Orrisn and Logan and teammates Archie Hyslop and Charlie Gibb looked to be in trouble when they conceded a three at the opening end.
However, they looked to have settled into the game as they came back immediately with a three at the second, then stole at the third to edge into the lead.
With the Canadians fighting for survival in the competition, they then managed to put a second three on the board at the fourth end to regain the initiative and when they stole at the sixth, after a blanked fifth, they firmly held the upper hand, 7-4 up.
The Scots reduced the deficit with a two at the seventh end, but when the Canadians matched that at the eighth, skip Orrin Carson was left with the deftest of double takeouts to score the three that could have turned the match around. 
His shot was almost measured to perfection as he hit both opposition stones that were around the button, but the clanking blow on the first was not quite sufficient to remove it from the house and the Scots were forced to settled for one, which allowed the Canadians to run them out of stones at the final end in sealing their victory.
“We always kept fighting until the end but a couple of costly threes was the difference in how competitive we could be,” Scotland vice skip Logan Carson said afterwards.
“So, it would have been nice to qualify but we know that we have two more games to win tomorrow and that would build some momentum going into Sunday if we got there.”
They complete the round-robin against Switzerland and Germany, the two teams with the poorest records in the competition to date, but know they cannot afford to take anything for granted at this level of the game.
“We've played both these teams before and we know we still need to be on our game to get the job done, so we'll be treating both matches as important as any other,” said Carson.
As well as looking for the wins that will get them into the knockout matches, they have the added incentive of knowing that winning both would secure them a second place finish in the standings, which would bring with it the hammer in the semi-final.
“Two wins would be a nice way to finish the round robin and we're still in a good spot for playoffs andknowing we'd have hammer is an extra bonus,” Carson acknowledged. 
They meanwhile had the ideal opportunity to take a break from the competitive intensity as they marked Hyslop’s 18th birthday, albeit in relatively low-key fashion as Carson explained saying: “It will be nothing too fancy, but we're all going to meet up with friends and family for a meal to celebrate.”
With all matches being live streamed on The Curling Channel, they meet Switzerland at 8.30am BST and Germany at 5.30pm.
The World Junior Curling Championships runs from 12-21 April.
Watch streamed games on The Curling Channel
Schedule:
Sunday 13 April
Session 2
Scotland – USA 11-10
Session 3
Scotland – Korea 9-7(EE)
Monday 14 April
Session 4
Scotland – Norway 8-1
Tuesday 15 April
Session 6
Scotland – Denmark 8-7 (EE)
Wednesday 16 April
Session 7
Scotland – Italy 4-9
Thursday 17 April
Session 8
Scotland – Japan 9-4
Friday 18 April
Session 10
Scotland – Canada 7-9
Saturday 19 April
Session 12
Scotland – Germany
Sunday 20 April
Semi finals
Monday 21 April
Final and bronze medal game
Team Scotland
Orrin Carson
Logan Carson
Archie Hyslop
Charlie Gibb
Jake MacDonald
Images: @curlpicsphoto
