Great Britain are set for a medal in curling and will have the chance to go for gold against Sweden, after beating USA 8-4 in their men’s semi-final on Thursday.
Bruce Mouat and his side were kept waiting until the final throws in what was a very tight encounter which remained 6-4 until the last stone, but skip John Shuster was unable to find magic with his last attempt and the defending champions are out.
With Sweden beating Canada 5-3 in the other semi-final, it means another intriguing match-up between the two nations in the final at the National Aquatics Centre in Beijing on Saturday.
Team GB are also up against Sweden in the women’s curling semi-final, which is set to take place a day earlier.
As for the men’s final, Mouat and his side will have every confidence of success after overcoming their Scandinavian rivals 7-6 during the round robin stage earlier this week.
The match started in a tactical battle with neither side giving much away, before USA stole two in the second end, with Mouat’s final throw only just preventing three on the board instead. A quick turnaround ensued though, with Shuster over-egging one in the third and giving GB a simple finish with the hammer to rack up three points themselves.
Shuster made up for it in the fourth end all the same, clipping away GB’s stone with his final shot to turn a one-point deficit into a two-point advantage and reseize the lead overall, 4-3.
Almost a mirror image played out in the fifth as the game remained tense and tight, Mouat’s hammer clipping away USA’s stone to go 5-4 up at the midway point and there were no further scores in the following three ends, with both teams trading blows and ensuring they stayed in the tie.
A pair of errors from Chris Plys in the ninth end proved decisive, GB moving two points clear as a result. After another tactical battle in the final end, the US having the hammer, Shuster’s final throw had too much power, clipped his own stone and left two yellows to seal victory for Mouat and Great Britain - giving the scoreline an overly flattering look in the process.
Now it’s on to the weekend final for Mouat and co, where they know they’ll be picking up at least a silver medal, but hoping for considerably more.
