MEL CLEWLOW believes Canterbury’s ladies missed out on a golden opportunity at the European Cup Winners' Cup in Madrid.

The long-serving skipper felt Canterbury were as good as any of the teams who competed in Spain, but paid the price for failing to make the most of their chances.

The 2004 silver medallists began well, sweeping aside Glasgow En Croute Western (5-0) and Old Alexandra (3-0) but were then beaten after leading against Stadion Rot Weiss Koln (2-1).

That result took the Germans into the final and Canterbury into a bronze medal play-off with Amsterdam which they lost 2-1, leaving them without a medal for the first time in their three European campaigns.

Clewlow said: "I think it was probably our best chance to win a gold medal. The biggest disappointment is that we played really well to get ourselves into a position to reach the final, but then could not take it."

* See the Kentish Gazette (Thursday, April 19) for the full story.