MEL Clewlow is hoping to put her Olympic heartache behind her by steering Canterbury Hockey Club’s ladies to glory in Europe.

Clewlow admitted to shedding a few tears following the failure of Great Britain’s women to reach the Athens Olympics later this summer, but she hopes to bounce back with Canterbury in the European Cup Winners’ Cup at Laren, near Amsterdam.

The Great Britain squad had been number one seeds for last month’s final qualifying tournament in New Zealand but failed to finish in the top two of their group before crashing out 2-0 in the play-offs to Korea.

Clewlow and Canterbury team-mates Anna Bennett and Hilary Rose were all members of the 18-strong party in Auckland, and she admitted that the shock of their exit took several days to get over.

The 27-year-old Canterbury skipper said: “I think our failure to qualify stunned everyone and when the final whistle went in the match against Korea I just stood on the pitch thinking ‘I can’t believe this’.

“I don’t think there was anybody who did not think we would qualify and it’s hard to explain why we didn’t.

“There has been a lot of criticism, both of the players and the management, but there is no one reason or one person who is at fault. You win as a team and you lose as a team and we all of us have to take responsibility.”

Britain let a 2-0 lead slip to draw 2-2 in their opening group game against hosts New Zealand and then went down 2-1 to Germany despite creating numerous chances.

Victories followed against the Ukraine and Ireland but with Germany and New Zealand drawing 1-1 in the group’s final match Britain had to go into a play-off.

“We always knew the first two games would be our hardest but we probably played badly only for 20 minutes and conceded four goals.

“Against New Zealand we could have been 4-0 up by half-time while in the Germany match we had nearly 30 entries into their circle. Had we taken a point from the Germany match we would have qualified automatically.”

Clewlow explained that Britain had not expected to meet second seeds Korea in the crossover matches but the pair were drawn together after Korea unexpectedly finished fourth in their group.

Clewlow says she probably won’t decide on her international future until the summer but concedes that if she does continue she may have to pursue her career without the support of Lottery funding.

“I don’t want to make a knee-jerk decision, and we still have a big debrief to come at Bisham Abbey in May.

“I think I once said that if I went to Athens that would be me done, but at the moment I honestly can’t say what I will do.

Clewlow says that after her Olympic heartbreak she is thoroughly looking forward to playing again with Canterbury, a club she feels has its own special atmosphere.

It is the first time the club have qualified for Europe and and she says there is no reason why they should not be aiming for a medal.