Scottish ice dancers Sinead and John Kerr were big crowd favourites but were forced to settle for second at the NHK Trophy in Tokyo.

The Scottish siblings, who were this week backed by Jayne Torvill for success at next year's Winter Olympics, finished behind Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White at the fourth ISU Grand Prix event of the season, an upgrade of one place from their performance at the Troph?e Eric Bompard last month.

But their innovative free programme, danced to Linkin Park's ?Krwling', was a real crowd pleaser - with Sinead's inverse lift of her brother getting the audience to their feet.

However, there were also wobbles, with stuttering twizzles and a rusty diagonal step sequence both downgraded.

"We were pleased with our technical score; it improved since our last Grand Prix but I made a few silly mistakes," admitted Sinead.

Davis and White produced a stunning performance of the Phantom of the Opera programme they hope will deliver Olympic success in Vancouver next February, following their fourth place at the World Championships in Los Angeles earlier this year.

"At this point, we are getting pretty comfortable with the routine," said White, who also won the ISU Grand Prix in Moscow two weeks ago.

"The Olympics are still a long way away, but I think that we should be able to have a really great routine by then.