Muirhead leads rink to comfortable victory over Russia

From Sportsbeat Staff, in Vancouver

EVE Muirhead has led her rink to a comprehensive victory over Russia in the third game of their Winter Olympic campaign.

TEAM WORK: Alternate Annie Laird stepped in for Kelly Wood after the second could not
take part due to illness (Getty Images)

Great Britain held a commanding 9-2 lead after six ends and held on to secure a dominant victory 10-3 with the Russians conceding defeat after the eighth end.

Britain were up against it after second Kelly Wood had to leave the arena feeling unwell but the 2007 world bronze medallist was ably replaced by alternate Annie Laird who helped her rink to a comprehensive victory.

"We had a good start. We were trying to do [better than] yesterday and we came out of the blocks sharp," said Muirhead.

"I love being in a big stadium. The atmosphere is fantastic. There are lots of Canadian fans, but I think we have a few on our side. I think there will be a few sore throats tomorrow.

"We were capitalising on their mistakes. In the first end, they had a very tricky shot and then we had a good second end.

"Kelly was not feeling too well this morning back at the village. Annie came on and was fantastic."

"As a skip you have to pull out of the bag. A lot have been coming off and I hope I can keep that going."

Ludmila Privivkova's Russia, who are ranked 8th in the world rankings one place below Great Britain, lost their opening game 9-5 to Germany but had bounced back to defeat Denmark 7-3 before today's loss.

An error riddled performance saw the Russians 5-0 down after just two ends. Although they pulled back two points before the half way mark they could not keep up the pressure.

Great Britain have now won two of their three opening games after an impressive opening 5-4 victory over China's Bingyu Wang who captured the world title in Korea last year.

But triple junior world champion Muirhead could not quite repeat the trick against defending Olympic champion Anette Norberg of Sweden, crashing to a 6-4 defeat.

Meanwhile, Great Britain's men slumped to a 4-3 defeat against Switzerland but have the chance to redeem themselves later on in the day as they face Denmark.

 AS IT HAPPENS: Day seven of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver