SCOTLAND’S men’s curlers are aiming to catch Section A leaders Norway after they strengthened their position to joint second at the European championships in Aberdeen yesterday.
The four leading men’s teams all won their round-robin matches yesterday to move two wins clear of the chasing pack and with only four matches remaining, the Scots are well placed to reach the play-offs.
Yesterday’s 8-3 win against Denmark moved David Murdoch’s team to four wins and one defeat after five matches and, with Germany first up this morning followed by the unbeaten Norwegians in the afternoon, Murdoch knows his side must maintain its recent standard.
He said: “We’re getting a lot of rocks in play and placing them in the right places and it means our opponents are having to play shots which carry a high degree of difficulty.
“If they don’t it means we are scoring well and that was the case when we put Denmark under early pressure.
“People might have been surprised at us playing so cautiously earlier but it was our decision to do that.
“We’re usually slow starters.
“Sometimes we’ve played aggressively when we don’t really know the ice and we’ve maybe lost a couple of games.
“But we’re in good shape right now and playing well.
“I’d give this performance an eight or a nine out of 10.
“We played extremely well early on, but we took our foot off the gas and let Denmark close the gap. We must keep our foot down for the rest of the week.
“We’re coming up against the teams who will be expecting to be up there challenging and we’ve got some tough games ahead.
“We are playing curling the way we need to if we are to win this championship.”
Murdoch’s third, Inverness curler Ewan MacDonald, has called for stronger focus from the team as it sets its sights on winning the group.
He said: “We’ve been pretty solid for the first five games. We let the game against the Czech Republic get away from us which was disappointing but sitting 4-1 is a good start for us.
“We kept things simple in the first couple of days, but we’ve got a good feel for the ice now.
“The ice is running nice now and curling well, so we are focusing on being more aggressive in our play which is something we will need to be from now on.
“We now play Germany and Norway which will be a tough couple of games.
“Norway are undefeated and Germany are a strong, experienced side too, so we will need to bring our A game if we are to beat them.”
Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud moved to 5-0 but only just after being taken to an extra end by Finland yesterday before winning 9-7.
In Section B2, Welshman Adrian Meikle moved a game clear of rivals Hungary and Latvia with a final-end win against Ireland in a home nations encounter.
Trailing Robin Gray 7-6 after the Irishman scored two in the ninth end, Meikle hit back with a double of his own to stay ahead of his rivals in the group, albeit having played a game more.