David Murdoch conceded fighting spirit alone was not enough to earn Great Britain an Olympic curling medal after an 8-6 bronze play-off defeat to the United States at Pinerolo.

Murdoch was adamant his team had not been haunted by the memory of Wednesday's agonising last-stone semi-final defeat to Finland but they seldom looked likely to snare the consolation prize.

A fine double take-out by skip Pete Fenson gave the Americans three for a 4-1 advantage after the third end and it was a lead the Britons were never able to claw back.

Murdoch said: "We wanted to win the bronze-medal match as much as that semi-final and we did everything possible to win but it didn't go out way.

"We had a sleepless night on Wednesday night but we regrouped and showed a lot of character to come out fighting. We proved there is a lot of fight on this team.

"It's a fantastic team and we did everything we could and it's a bit of a hard-luck story - we just didn't get the breaks in the last couple of games and got caught out."

Murdoch's failure to read the unpredictable ice contributed to setting up Fenson's triple chance in the third end to put the Americans firmly in control.

The Britons frequently admitted throughout their Olympic programme that the ice was not to their liking and often worked more in favour of their opponents.

Vice-captain Ewan MacDonald admitted: "Both David's last shots didn't curl as much as we thought they would and it left them a great chance to get a three.

"If that stone had swung another inch then maybe they didn't really have that shot and that was a big turning point for the match."

Britain regrouped and came on strong in the second part of the contest following a brief interruption by a male streaker, who leapt out of the crowd with only a rubber chicken preserving his modesty.

And Murdoch matched Fenson with a last stone double take-out of his own in the seventh for a triple to claw the deficit back to 6-5 and give his side a sniff of a chance.

But it was always likely to leave the Americans in control for the final end and despite Britain's best efforts to put in some blocks Fenson kept his cool to draw in the last stone and take bronze.

Murdoch now faces the prospect of having to refocus almost immediately with the Scottish Championships due to begin in Perth next Tuesday.

But the 27-year-old farmer already has his sights set on bigger things once the anguish of having to return home without an Olympic medal after such a bright start has eased.

Along with Fenson, Murdoch is regarded as one of the new young breed of curling skips who is likely to have a major role to play in the future of his sport.

Murdoch's team entered the Games ranked third in the world and a run of six victories from their first seven in the round-robin competition had installed them temporarily as gold-medal favourites.

"It is hard to take because the chance was there. It will be with me for a long time but I am hoping we will get the chance to bury it at the next Olympics," said Murdoch.

In the gold-medal match, Canada beat Britain's semi-fnal conquerors Finland 10-4.