Golden chance gone as Finns foil Murdoch in last-stone drama

DAVID Murdoch's curling team of Euan Byers, Warwick Smith and Ewan MacDonald will be fighting for bronze medals tomorrow after Great Britain's agonising 3-4 semi-final defeat to Finland yesterday evening.

The Finns needed a perfect last stone in the final end to wrap up a nail-biting victory and deny the Scots a place in the final against Canada, who beat USA 11-5 in the other semi-final.

"It's absolutely heart-wrenching," said Murdoch. "I think we've done everything we possibly could. We think we've captured the nation a bit and we owe it to them to get a bronze medal. To play in the final would have been the biggest thing ever. Obviously to play for bronze is still the biggest thing ever for us."

With the stakes so high, it was no surprise the game had a cagey start. Finland, with last-stone advantage, blanked the first end, before good stone placement by the British team forced them to take a single shot in the second. The edginess continued for the next two ends, when Murdoch blanked the third and fourth ends, before finally levelling the score at 1-1 in the fifth.

In the sixth end, Finland skip Markku Uusiaavalniemi nudged out a Murdoch counter to score two and effectively move into the lead for the first time. In the seventh, Murdoch declined the chance to go for a risky double take-out to hit and stay for just one shot, bringing the score to 2-3 in Finland's advantage. The Finns blanked the eighth to keep this advantage, but pressurised by Murdoch, Uusiaavalniemi's last shot in the ninth was mis-judged and he rolled out after hitting, leaving a British stone counting one and levelling at 3-3 to set up a tense final end.

In the tenth, Britain did not have last-stone advantage and they used all their guile to make life difficult for Finland. Murdoch's last stone was placed almost perfectly onto the button, jammed up against a Finnish counter, making it virtually impossible for Finland to take out. This forced Finland into playing a real pressure shot, drawing onto the button from the other side of the house. Against the odds, Uusiaavalniemi delivered this shot perfectly and his stone squeezed onto the button for the one shot that gave him victory.

"He had two options with that last shot, and I was quite happy to see him go for the draw," added Murdoch, who must now pick his team up for the bronze-medal game tomorrow against Pete Fenson's USA. "You've got to take your hat off to the guy."

In the women's event, meanwhile, world and European champion Anette Norberg Sweden kept her hopes of landing the triple crown alive when she beat Norway by 5-4 in their semi-final. The Swedes will contest today's final against Switzerland, who defeated Canada 7-5.