Sunday 4 WJCC08: Scotland v USA

Glen Muirhead, Scott Macleod, Scott Andrews and Gordon McDougall took on the US team whose skip, Chris Plys, has played at the World Juniors before, in 2006 (finishing ninth) and last year (finishing fifth).

Sometimes when I'm down on the ice taking photos of the action, I'm not really aware of the situation in the head. Not tonight. It was the fourth end. And you could tell easily from the players' faces what was happening, even though I was facing away from the house!

The end began well. Then the US second made a triple takeout. The Scots could not place their stones in the right spot thereafter, try as they might, and Glen had to attempt a big clearance with his last. It didn't work out, and Plys drew for four!

The Scots battled on, but despite the welcome vocal support from the fans, they were 7-3 down after six ends, and the writing was on the wall. The Americans made one mistake with a wrong call in the seventh and the Scots got three back. But it was to no avail. Plys decided to take a single in the ninth to be 8-6 up coming home, and that's how it finished.

Just to add that the Scottish Draw Shot Challenge distance is recorded as 200.6 cm, behind Denmark, USA, Germany and Canada, but ahead of China, Suitzerland, Norway, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

All the results and standings from the championship can be found at www.curlingkanalen.se, who are streaming selected games throughout the week. The event host website is www.wjcc2008.org.