An 11-7 defeat to Switzerland saw Scotland’s Team Mouat slip off the top of the table for the first time at the BKT World Men’s Championship in Saskatchewan, but they believe the adjustments they made in the course of that match can set them up for a quick recovery.
With the curling stones having had their mid-competition rub after the previous night’s games, they were clearly behaving differently for the morning matches on the fifth day of play and Scottish skip Bruce Mouat acknowledged that their opponents had responded more rapidly to that challenge.
However, he also felt they had taken full advantage of a fortuitous break in the second end, where they scored a crucial three after an attempted double takeout by his vice skip Grant Hardie saw the opposing stone he hit initially squeeze through an improbable hole between two more Swiss stones either side of the button. 
“The Swiss got a handle on it a bit quicker, but we felt that we were really unlucky in the second end, which led to the three,” said Mouat.
“An inch either side on Grant’s shot and we probably only lose two, but that’s the name of the game.
“Sometimes it comes down to the smallest margins.”
“So, we’re a little disappointed that we didn’t play better in the first half of the game, but we’re happy with how we came back in the second half and got some twos on the board.
“It felt like we settled into the ice a bit better in the second half, so we’re going to take that into the next game and hope we play a bit better in the first half.”
It was only the second loss for Mouat, Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan, but the timing of it added extra importance to their meet later in the day with Norway who were also looking to bounce back after a morning loss to Canada that has put them on the cusp of the play-off places,
“The Norwegians are playing well and having a really good week, so it looks like we’re going to have to go well to beat them and keep our fingertips close to the top of the standings if we can, which would be good,” said Mouat.
Scotland meet Norway at 9pm (BST) tonight.
The BKT World Men’s Curling Championship runs from 29 March – 6 April, Moose Jaw, SK, Canada.
Scotland Team
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Kyle Waddell (alternate)
Michael Goodfellow (Team Coach)
Greg Drummond (Olympic Head Coach)
Please click here for draw and results.
Schedule and results:
Day One
Sunday 30 March
Scotland – Austria 12-2
Day Two
Scotland – Japan 9-6
Monday 31 March
Scotland – Korea 9-3
Day Three
Monday 31 March
Scotland – Canada 6-5(EE)
Tuesday 1 April
Scotland – Czechia 8-2
Day Four
Scotland – Italy 9-7
Day Five
Wednesday 2 April
Scotland – Switzerland 7-11
Scotland – Norway – 9pm
Day Six
Thursday 3 April
Scotland – Sweden – 4pm*
Scotland – USA – 9pm
Day Seven
Friday 4 April
Scotland – Germany -4pm
Saturday 5 April
Scotland – China – 2am
Day Eight
Saturday 5 April
Qualification games*-4pm
Semi Final games*-10pm
Day Nine
Sunday 6 April
Bronze medal game*-4pm
Gold medal game*-10pm
*Games available on the BBC iPlayer
Images: Anil Mungal/British Curling
