Winter Olympics: Bruce Mouat’s hat-trick strengthens Great Britain’s push for curling medal

The curler credited his change of attire for setting up victory on Saturday morning.

Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds face a big day on Sunday (Andrew Milligan/PA) (PA Wire)

Bruce Mouat is banking on his magic hat to sweep Great Britain into a guaranteed mixed curling medal match on Sunday.

Mouat and team-mate Jennifer Dodds are still in a strong position in the round-robin standings despite slipping to a 7-5 defeat against Italy on Saturday night.

Earlier, Mouat credited his change of attire with helping the pair brush aside Czech husband-and-wife duo Paul and Zuzana Paulova 8-3 to bolster their status in the standings.

After sealing his win over the Czechs, Mouat said: “I guess it’s a wee bit of a superstition almost now.

“I didn’t play very well in the first three games and I was quite disappointed with how I was playing so I put the hat on, and it’s got superpowers, apparently.

“It’s maybe a vanity thing, my hair is all over the place. It just covers it up and people don’t worry about my hair.”

Having seen off the Czechs, the British pair found it tougher against Italy, with the critical moment coming when their opponents took three on their powerplay in the penultimate end.

Mouat and Dodds still hold their top-four fate in their own hands as they prepare for another double-header on Sunday against China and Norway.

Mouat said: “We’re pretty happy with how we’re doing. We’re a bit disappointed not to win that one, we would have been in a really solid position.

“We’ve beaten a lot of tough teams out there already which will stand us in good stead.

“Going into another two-game day tomorrow, it’s almost must-win now. I’m excited to go in and see what we can do.”