Great Britain defeated Latvia 6-5 to claim their first win in the wheelchair curling mixed doubles event at the Winter Paralympics in Milan-Cortina.
Having been beaten 10-7 by Estonia in Wednesday’s opening game before losing 14-3 in just seven ends to world number ones South Korea on Thursday morning, GB needed a better performance in their second match of the day.
And against the Latvians, who had also lost their first two matches, Jo Butterfield and Jason Kean rallied after their opponents stole one in the opening end.
Butterfield, who is aiming to become the first Briton to win Winter and Summer Paralympic golds – having finished first in the club throw event at Rio 2016 – played a key role with two superb shots either side of the break.
Her last stone of the fourth end enabled a score of two to take a 5-2 lead into the interval, while her final stone of the fifth end resulted in a steal for a 6-2 advantage.
Latvia pulled one back in both the sixth and seventh ends but, with GB having the last-stone advantage in the final end and Latvia needing two to force an extra end, they could only manage one to leave Butterfield and Kean victorious.
