Murdoch keeps Great Britain alive with nail-biting victory

From Sportsbeat staff, in Vancouver

 SKIP David Murdoch survived a scare to clinch a much-needed victory for Great Britain and keep the reigning world champions' quest for curling gold alive in Vancouver.

PICTURE OF CONCENTRATION: David Murdoch nails an inch-perfect stone in the eight end to help Great Britain to a crucial victory over Denmark in Vancouver (Getty Images)

Murdoch has been anything but on song in Vancouver thus far and a costly error in the tenth end against Switzerland earlier in the day, saw Great Britain crash to their second defeat of the tournament.

That ensured there was no room for error against Johnny Frederiksen's Denmark where another defeat would leave Murdoch and co's hopes of reaching the knock-out stages hanging by a thread.

And while Great Britain secured the victory they needed, they were far from their best once more, relying on an inch-perfect stone to set up a triple in the eighth end before sealing a 9-6 victory in a nail-biting tenth.

"You have got to enjoy a roller coaster sometimes, don't you? It is always going to be tough out there, everyone is playing well," said Murdoch.

"There are a few things we need to tighten up on, take out the slack shots and come out fresh on Saturday.

"It is still pretty early in the week, but obviously we don't want to take any more losses. We are still trying to find that top gear and hopefully it will come on Saturday.

"We have a long way to go in this competition yet but this wasn't our best.

"We were a bit slow off the mark and the Danish boys played very well.

"We are having a day off tomorrow before we have a big day on Saturday with China and Canada. We are not a mile off but we just need to sharpen up a bit.

"It is too early to start thinking about Canada, we need to win the game against China first. We won't be thinking about Canada until we step out on the ice."

Again Great Britain did not begin brightly and a scoreless opening end was followed by the second, dominated by Denmark's Frederiksen, who took a 1-0 advantage.

Shaken into life, Murdoch bounced back with a double in the third but mistakes crept in again and Denmark levelled proceedings with a single in the fourth.

Murdoch helped himself to a single in the next end but a double from Frederiksen saw Denmark take the lead - time was running out for Great Britain.

But Murdoch showed his true class in the eighth end, sending a stone within millimetres of a Danish guard to set up a triple, Great Britain appeared to be back on song.

But the mistakes that have plagued their Olympic campaign would not leave them alone and a double in the ninth from Frederiksen set up a tense finale.

The throw was with Murdoch and as a cagey end unfolded, the slightest of errors from Frederiksen presented the Scot with the chance to secure a triple and with it the game - an opportunity that this time he duly accepted.

Meanwhile, Canada's Kevin Martin continues his superb start to the competition on home ice and chalked up a thumping 12-5 win over France.

And Norway's Thomas Ulsrud ground out a hard-fought 7-4 win over Switzerland's Ralph Stoeckli and European champions Sweden required an 11th end to down China 6-5.

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