CANTERBURY hockey club’s Mel Clewlow will have to help England upset the odds if she is to collect her third Commonwealth Games medal this Friday.

England face New Zealand in the bronze medal play-off, starting at 11.30pm GMT, having lost to the same opponents 4-0 in their final group match earlier this week.

Clewlow’s hopes of improving on the silver medals she won with England in 2002 and 1998 were dashed when they lost 2-0 to Australia in the semi-final in the early hours of Thursday.

India beat New Zealand 1-0 in the other semi-final, and they will play Australia for gold in the early hours of Saturday.

Dover-born Clewlow said of the New Zealand match: “They had six shots and scored four times, whereas we entered their circle more than 20 times without scoring, which is an area we need to improve on.”

Of her Canterbury and England team-mate Cathy Gilliat-Smith, of Tonbridge, who has yet to score in the Games, Clewlow said: “Cathy’s been playing really well and I know she’s been enjoying the experience.

“I’m sure as a forward she’d like a goal but she’s been there or thereabouts so hopefully she’s saving one up.”

There was even more disappointment for their Canterbury club-mate Jen Wilson, whose South Africa team failed to make the semi-finals.

She said: “We showed plenty of fighting spirit against Australia but in other games we’ve been our own worst enemies.”

All three Canterbury players are due to fly home after the opening ceremony on Monday, which is Wilson’s 27th birthday.

Most of the day will be spent in the air as she catches a connecting flight from Melbourne to Sydney before flying to Johannesburg and then on to London.

She said: “It’s going to be an interesting day but because of the time differences I get to celebrate my birthday for 33 hours rather than the usual 24, which is quite nice.”