Scotland’s Sophie Jackson and Duncan McFadzean refused to let their heads drop in spite of suffering a heavy loss to the USA in their only game of the third day’s play at the World Mixed Doubles Championships in Sweden.
The competition debutants set themselves up well for their meeting with the USA’s brother/sister combination of Becca and former Olympic Champion Matt Hamilton by winning the pre-match draw shot challenge, earning the right to have last shot at the first end.
However, they then conceded steals at all four ends, culminating in the loss of a four immediately before the midway break.
At 8-0 down they could have been forgiven for accepting it was simply not their day, but Jackson and McFadzean opted to battle on, getting on the scoreboard with a two on their powerplay then claiming steals of their own at ther sixth and and seventh ends and they were only finally run out of stones by their opponents late in the eighth and final end.
“That was a tough game to take there,” said McFadzean, who admitted that they had struggled with the conditions in Oestersund. 
“Those first four ends were not ideal and at the start of the game we were really struggling with the ice and where to put the brush.
“It was just really straight and quick for us compared to other teams, just the way we throw it.
“That makes it really hard to create angles and bumps and taps.
“We were just missing shots in the wrong way early on and it’s always just a grind from there when they get on top of you.
“It didn’t feel like we were a million miles off, but then we let the scoreline get away from us and it just wasn’t good enough.”
He explained that they had chosen to stay on the ice throughout the second half in a bid to get to grips with those conditions and to recharge their self-belief.
“We played on in the second half to just try to find something,” said McFadzean.
“We didn’t want to leave the ice feeling like we couldn’t make anything.
“We just wanted to step off the ice feeling in a better place in spite of suffering a big defeat.”
With five of their scheduled nine round-robin matches still to play, their chances of reaching the playoffs remain in their own hands, however and having had time to talk things through, they are ready for their two matches on day four, against unbeaten Canada, as well as the Netherlands.
“We’re just about halfway through the event, so we’re still going to stay positive,” said McFadzean.
“We’ve had a chat after that match which was pretty helpful, so our heads are in a good space and it’s just going out there and doing it now.
“Every game’s important now with two losses on the board, but we’re going to be confident going into the next game.
“We know we can put things together, it’s just doing it and it’s always a big one against Canada, so we’re certainly going to be up for that one in the morning.”
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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 – 09.00
Scotland – Canada
Session 12 – 17.00
Scotland - Netherlands
Wednesday 24 April
Session 14 – 13.00
Scotland – New Zealand
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
