Victory over New Zealand in their only match of day five at the World Mixed Doubles Championship in Sweden has kept Scotland’s Sophie Jackson and Duncan McFadzean among the playoff contenders heading into their last two round-robin matches.
The 9-3 margin accurately reflected the Scottish pair’s control of their latest match in Sweden’s Oestersund Arena after they had earned last stone advantage at the opening end at which they registered a two, before forcing opponents Courtney Smith and Anton Hood to take only one at the next.
They retained that advantage, leading 3-2 at the midway break before scoring another two on the resumption to open up a commanding three shot advantage and after they forced the New Zealanders to yet another one when they took their powerplay at the sixth, a four for the Scots at their own powerplay saw Smith and Hood offer their hands ahead of the last of the scheduled eight ends. 
“We need to keep winning and we are really pleased with the performance there,” said McFadzean.
“It was comfortable in the end. That was probably as comfortable as we have been in a game so far.”
He believes that they are finding their form at the right time as they look ahead to crunch matches against China and the unbeaten Swedish pairing that has already clinched its place in the playoffs.
“There was a really good flow throughout that whole game and it was something that we have not had yet, but we are heading in the right direction as the competition has been going forward so that is always a big confidence booster,” said McFadzean.
“Going into the last two games tomorrow hopefully we can keep that momentum going and keep that flow going forward like we did in that game.”
Their cause was helped when the USA were hauled back into the pack, their defeat by Czechia leaving them tied in third spot with the Scots and Korea on four wins and three losses, but as McFadzean noted, there is no point in concerning themselves with matters that they cannot influence.
“To be honest we are not focusing too much on what is happening elsewhere just now as what happens in other games is not in our control,” he said.
“We are still in it and we know we have to go out and do our job, so we need to get our heads down and get it done tomorrow. 
“Every game is big for us now and we know if we win both of games against China and Sweden tomorrow we have a chance of getting to the play-offs, so it is just down to us to again go out and do it.
“We are looking to build on our last two performances and how we have been playing and we are really looking forward to it.”
The round-robin continues until April 25, with the 20 competing teams divided into two pools of 10, playing nine matches each ahead of the play-offs and medal matches which take place on April 27.
Group A: Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Turkiye.
Group B: Australia, Canada, China, Czechia, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, USA.
Please click here for LIVE streaming of all games on The Curling Channel.
Selected games are also available on the BBC iPlayer, BBC Scotland website and app
Please click here for more event information and results
Scotland Team
Sophie Jackson
Duncan McFadzean
Michael Goodfellow Coach
Ross Paterson Coach
Schedule (BST) & Results
Saturday 20 April
Session 2
Scotland – Czechia 7-3
Sunday 21 April
Session 4
Scotland – Korea 4-6
Session 6
Scotland – Australia 7-5
Monday 22 April
Session 8
Scotland – USA 8-4
Tuesday 23 April
Session 10
Scotland – Canada 5-12
Session 12
Scotland – Netherlands 7-5
Wednesday 24 April
Session 14
Scotland – New Zealand 9-3
Thursday 25 April
Session 16 – 09.00
Scotland – China
Session 18 – 17.00
Scotland – Sweden
Friday 26 April
09.00
Qualification Games
17.00
Semi Finals
Saturday 27 April
09.00
Bronze Medal Game
13.00
Gold Medal Game
Image: World Curling
