Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Claire Hamilton were against the Czech Republic's Linda Klimova at the Le Gruyere European Curling Championships in Moscow tonight.The game start was delayed for an extraordinary length of time due to a roof drip which the ice technician advised was ready for play within minutes of the problem being corrected. Two full ends behind and the game was off and running. The first end was a two to Eve but the Czech Republic came back with a pair and stole two singles in the next two ends to lead 4-2. Thoughts of another hiccup at these championships were not far away from the mind but Eve split the house with her first and hit and lay with her second to count a pair to square the game 4-4 at the break.
In the sixth, the Scots were in trouble before Anna played a triple with her first and drew round with her second and in three stones the tide of the end was flowing to the Scots. With her two stones Eve drew and then guarded, and lying three against, Klimova was forced to play a draw, on which she came up short.
The seventh and another Czech miss gave a steal to Eve but in the eighth Klimova played huge shot; a double at an awkward angle to count two and the game was, once again, taking a twist.
In the ninth, Anna made the big play, splitting the house and the girls lay four shots. Klimova drew with her last and lay second only, leaving the draw for Eve to pick up the two shots, and a four shot lead into the last end. The Scots then ran the Czech Republic out of stones in the tenth.
After the game Eve summed up her feelings in using just one word, "Relieved."
Scores: Sweden 8 Norway 2, Scotland 10 Czech Republic 6, Russia 11 Switzerland 5, Germany 7 Italy 6, Denmark 6 Latvia 5.
Find all the results here.
Top: Photo of the skips is © Leslie Ingram-Brown
