David Murdoch's Scotland delivered when the pressure was on to reignite their challenge at the World Curling Championship.

Last year's silver medallists, reeling from defeats to lowly-ranked China and the Czech Republic, needed to secure back-to-back wins to stand a chance of reaching the play-off stages.

They brushed France aside 9-1 but were always going to face a tougher test against Norway's Thomas Ulsrud, who they beat in the final of this year's European Championships.

Only unbeaten Canada were ahead of Norway in the standings before the match and Murdoch needed a tense extra end to secure the 6-5 win he desperately needed.

The victory gives Scotland and Norway the same won six, lost three record and pushes Scotland into second place on the rankings.

They will conclude their round-robin matches on Thursday against fourth-placed Denmark and Kevin Martin's unbeaten reigning champion Canada.

"That was big pressure," admitted Murdoch.

"It was a must-win game after what happened the day before. It's a massive win for us and it keeps our hopes alive."