Eve Muirhead and her Olympic curling team have fought their way back into the medal play-off places with a crucial and emphatic victory against Japan.
The 10-4 triumph moved the British quartet into the top three of the round-robin standings, with a 4-3 overall record.
The margin for error is minute at this stage of the competition and the Perthshire skip knew her chances of fighting it out for a second Olympic medal were on the line.
The Scots now need to beat host nation China and bottom of the table Russia to progress to the play-offs.
Against Japan, they took control early and never let it slip, running out comfortable winners with two ends spare.
🤜🤛 Handshakes and fist bumps with two ends to spare 🤝#TeamGB | #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/2DqmzqYnq6 https://t.co/iHK5D0hN5Y
— Team GB (@TeamGB) February 15, 2022
“We knew that was a very important game for us today and we came out with a lot of fire,” said the Courier columnist.
“We had a great chat last night after the loss to Canada and we knew it was a very important game to get a win.
“Coming out and getting a three in the first end, you couldn’t really ask for much more and we managed to control it to the end.
“To get the 6-1 lead was nice, but what we did very well was we didn’t get one bit complacent. We kept control of every end, every stone and saw the game out.”
China have only won two out of seven, while Russia have a solitary victory to their name, but Muirhead stressed that the qualification job is far from complete.
Here are the women's standings after 7⃣ days of round-robin play at the @Olympics!
What do you think, who is going to qualify for the semi-finals❓🤔#Curling | #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/ZlDaNfPKnD
— World Curling (@worldcurling) February 15, 2022
“I don’t think you can get complacent about any game out there, as they’re all very hard,” she said.
“We’ve got China tomorrow and it’s always a little bit harder when you’ve got that home crowd against you, but we’re enjoying every minute of it out there, we’ve worked very hard as a team and of course tomorrow’s a new day.
“You just have to take each day and each game at a time. We wanted to get in this position.
“The last two Olympics, this is the position I’ve been in and I love pressure. It seems to be when we play best.”
Hungry for another medal
Muirhead, who is competing at her fourth Games and was the Team GB flagbearer in the opening ceremony, added: “It feels very similar to previous Olympics.
“Having a medal (in Sochi in 2014) then finishing fourth (in PyeongChang in 2018) was really difficult, but every Olympic Games I go to I’m hungry to get on that podium.
“Our next goal is to make the top four and once we do that, if it happens, we then start again.
“I don’t think we’ve had one game that we’ve come off and I’ve thought: ‘That was terrible’.
“I think every game we’ve played has been very close, but we’ve got to be very clinical and just keep going.”
EVE MUIRHEAD: Beating Olympic curling champs on day one and Team GB special honour
