Scotland’s Team Morrison were left ruing missed opportunities after two tough losses on the second day of action at the LGT World Women’s Curling Championships in Sweden.
Rebecca Morrison, Gina Aitken, Sophie Sinclair and Sophie Jackson, looked to have put themselves in positions to win both matches against European champions Denmark and Pan-Continental champions Japan, only to make late mistakes that allowed their opponents to steal the wins from them.
Their meeting with the Danes swung both ways as they allowed Madeleine Dupont to steal at the opening then, then steal three more at the second to set up a 4-0 lead, only for the Scots to battle back and level the match with a steal of their own at the eighth end.
When they then forced their opponents to take a single at the ninth, the Scots looked to have the upper hand when they set skip Morrison up with an opportunity for a take-out with her final stone that would have secured a two and the victory. 
However, her attempt was marginally off target, instead driving a Danish stone onto her own shot stone to concede another steal from which there was no recovery this time as they suffered a 9-7 loss.
If anything, the second defeat was possibly more painful at the end of a match they looked to be in charge of throughout after a steal at the third end had put them into a 4-1 lead.
That was built into a 6-2 advantage at the halfway break and when they stole again at the seventh end they were five shots ahead with just four ends to play.
However, Japan’s Olympic silver medallists stuck to their task as they fought their way into range with a two at the seventh end, then stole at the next to make it 7-5.
Scottish nerves looked to have been settled when they scored at the ninth end to take a three shot lead into the last, but they got themselves into difficulties and when Morrison’s bid to make a double takeout with her last stone narrowly missed, Satstuki Fujisawa was left with a straightforward takeout to claim the four which brought her team a 9-8 win.
“It is hard to come away today with two losses,” admitted World Championship debutant Morrison.
“I feel like we deserved a little bit more than that in the end, but we just didn’t finish the games off, which is what you need to do at this level, so it’s a tough one to take today.”
With a long week ahead of her team, she sought to find positives from the day as she looked ahead to facing Korea and Canada on day three. 
“The good thing is that we did have our opportunities, so it just shows that we’re going toe-to-toe with these teams and that’s really great to see,” said Morrison.
“We just have a little to learn about how to keep control of a lead probably. I think that’s all there is to it.
“It’s nice that we get the morning draw off tomorrow, to get a little rest and then we’re back on in the afternoon.
“We’ll just enjoy our rest tonight, regroup tomorrow and come back stronger.
“We’re aware that it’s a very long week ahead of us and we’ve still got nine games left, so we’ve just got to keep our heads up because anything can still happen out there.”
The LGT World Women’s Curling Championships is taking place in Sandviken from March 18-26.
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Schedule
Day One – Saturday 18 March
Session 2 – 18.00
Scotland – Germany 12-5
Day Two – Sunday 19 March
Session 3 – 08.00
Scotland – Denmark 7-9
Session 5 – 18.00
Scotland – Japan 8-9
Day Three – Monday 20 March
Session 7 – 13.00
Scotland – Korea
Session 8 – 18.00
Scotland – Canada
Day Four – Tuesday 21 March
Session 10 - 13.00
Scotland – Norway
Session 11 – 18.00
Scotland – Italy
Day Five – Wednesday 22 March
Session 13 – 13.00
Scotland – USA
Day Six – Thursday 23 March
Session 15 – 08.00
Scotland – Sweden
Session 16 – 13.00
Scotland – New Zealand
Day Seven – Friday 24 March
Session 18 – 08.00
Scotland – Switzerland
Session 20 – 18.00
Scotland – Turkiye
Day Eight – Saturday 25 March
Qualification Games – 09.00
Semi Finals – 15.00
Day Nine – Sunday 26 March
Bronze Medal Game – 09.00
Gold Medal Game – 14.00
Team Morrison
Rebecca Morrison
Gina Aitken
Sophie Sinclair
Sophie Jackson
Jen Dodds (alternate)
Nancy Smith (Team Coach)
Greg Drummond (Coach)
Nigel Holl (Team Leader)
#curling #WWCC2023
Image: WCF/Jeffrey Au
