FÜSSEN – David Murdoch wore a smile or two during his Scottish team's 8-5 win over Switzerland at the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships.

"I always enjoy the Championships," acknowledged the former European and World Champion, who also lost last year's final in Basel.

"I like to play in arenas. Yeah, of course I'm enjoying myself."

Tied 2-2 in the fourth end against Toni Müller's team from Adelboden, Murdoch stole a pair to take a 4-2 lead. Two ends later his Lockerbie foursome scored a three-ender, and even a German deuce in the eighth couldn't undo the damage.

"We played a really good end to pick up the three," said Murdoch.

"We feel we're coming through and playing well. It's our target to finish one or two (in the round-robin), absolutely, and it's still there." 

The Scots have recovered from a 1-2 start to sit tied for second with the Swiss and Denmark with a 4-2 win/loss record. The Danes lost 8-3 to a determined Peja Lindholm who is tied with Germany at 3-3.

The hosts from Füssen, skipped by Andy Kapp, lost 8-5 to the best team on the ice so far this week: Norway's Thomas Ulsrud. The Norwegians took three in the second, a deuce in the eighth and stole the sixth and ninth ends, too.

In other matches, Jiri Snitil of the Czech Republic stole a key 5-4 win from Finland on the last shot of the game. Finnish skip Kelle Kiiskinen rolled an inch too far on a takeout attempt, and after a measurement, the Czechs exploded with joy.

The major target for most teams in the A Division of the European Championships is to finish in the top seven, which guarantees a spot into the 2008 World Championships. The eighth-place finishers must play a challenge match against the B Division champions for the last berth into the Worlds.

Last year, Snitil won the B Division and graduated into the A pool, although he lost the challenge match to Denmark.

In Tuesday night action, the Czechs meet Scotland in a match which Murdoch labelled "a must win." 

The Czechs, Finns and France are all at 2-4, and in danger of missing the Worlds. Italy's Joel Retornaz, who lost 6-5 to the French in an extra end, is winless with six losses and is in grave danger of finishing last, which would drop the squad into next year's Euro B Division.

In women's play, Denmark's Lene Nielsen played giant killer by defeating Sweden's Anette Norberg 7-5 in the sixth round of play. Both squads lead the field at 5-1 along with Switzerland's Mirjam Ott, who punted Russia 9-3. Scotland's Kelly Wood crushed the Czech Republic 8-1 to stay close at 4-2, while Russia and Italy, last year's finalists, are both at 3-3.

Competition continues through to the Championship Finals on December 8, with live television and webstreamed coverage on Eurosport, NRK (Norway), Eurosport.com and CurlTV.com.