Bruce Mouat credited his magic hat for helping sweep Great Britain to the brink of a mixed curling medal match in Beijing on Saturday.

Mouat and Jennifer Dodds brushed aside Czech husband-and-wife pair Paul and Zuzana Paulova 8-3 to move to a 4-1 record midway through the round-robin phase.

Mouat is so well known for wearing a hat on the curling circuit that it has its own Twitter page with over 100 followers.

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.”

The British pair led 5-1 after three ends against the Czechs, and never looked in danger of surrendering their advantage.

Dodds and Mouat were due to return to the ice later on Saturday to face Italy, who currently lead the standings having won all five of their matches to date.