Scotland’s Team Carson lost their unbeaten record at the World Junior Championship in Cortina as they went down to hosts Italy 9-4.
For Orrin Carson, Logan Carson, Archie Hyslop and Charlie Gibb it was a tough loss, but they remain in a strong position to make the play-offs and have immediately re-set their sights on their next match.
“We were disappointed not to start with the hammer and it was a poor first end, but we managed to get back level and we kept it tight throughout the game, but we’re just going to go again tomorrow and make sure we get on top of Japan,” said Orrin Carson.
While they fought hard throughout the match, they were unable at any stage to put more than a single shot on the scoreboard. 
“They defended really well,” Carson acknowledged.
“They’re a good hitting side but we probably could have been a bit better with our own stone placement, so we’ll make sure we’re a bit sharper with that against Japan, look to come out of the box firing and see if we can get the win.”
The defeat now leaves them in second position in the standings, tied with defending champions Norway whom they beat earlier in the week, so while they know there is hard work to be done, they still have confidence in their ability to be amongst those competing for medals come the knockout stages at the end of the week.
“We know we’ll need a few more wins to get to the play-offs, but we’re just taking it a game at a time and I’m sure that if we play our best against Japan we’ll have a great chance,” said Carson.
“Every team’s strong at this event, we know that and we know Japan have just come off a big win as well, so they’ll be coming into our game really confident, so we’ll have to be at it from the start.”
The meeting with Italy marked the halfway mark in their round-robin campaign and after meeting the Japanese in their only match on day six, they then face Canada on day seven, before taking on both Switzerland and Germany on the last day of round-robin action.
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
Friday 18 April
Session 10
Scotland – Canada
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
Image: World Curling
