Alan Smith, Gillian Howard, David Mundell and Karen Strang got off to a good start against the Czech Republic, Alan accurate with his last stone takeout to secure two for his team in the first end. The Czech team, with already two wins in the bank, blanked end 2.Alan failed to take the opportunity to put pressure on the opposition when his attempted raise was way off line in the third. 'Pish' was his (accurate) description of the shot! Czech skip Jiri Snitil drew for his two and the scores were level.
A good takeout against two saw the Scots 3-2 ahead at the break.
Snitil blanked the fifth, but engineered his two in the sixth, the Scots getting into trouble when Gillian caught a guard with her first.
In the seventh, with a mess of stones in the four foot, Alan played a great raise takeout with his first to lie two. There was hardly a way in for a third though, and the Scots has to be content with two, going into the final end 5-4 up without the hammer.
Committed to the steal in the eighth, Alan had to guard a lone Scottish stone with his first. He was good but left it long. Snitil removed the guard. Alan elected to draw for second shot with his last, then changed his mind and went for the guard again. It was not perfect. With two second shots, the Czech skip had to scrape past the guard and chip away the Scottish counter. He went for it at a delicate weight, made the shot perfectly for the game.
It had been a close exciting match, but Team Smith had nothing to show for their efforts. The Scots face unbeaten Switzerland this afternoon.
Find all the other scores here.
Photo of Alan in full voice is by Bob. More later.
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