MEL CLEWLOW believes England’s women are heading in the right direction after picking up a bronze medal at the European Nations Championship in Dublin.

The Canterbury Hockey Club captain played every minute of every game in the week-long tournament, scoring the opening goal in the 4-0 victory against Spain which clinched third spot.

England had finished fourth in Barcelona two years before, and having won the KT Cup in Korea under new coach Danny Kerry in June, Clewlow feels the squad are making progress.

Clewlow said: "Before the tournament we had two objectives. The first was to make sure we sure we qualified for the World Cup qualifier next year and the second was to win a medal so to achieve both was great.

"It was disappointing not to reach the final, but before the semi-finals with the Dutch their coach said England were back among the best.

"He said the players actually looked as if they were enjoying themselves and I think that shows the respect is there."

England had to finish in the top six to make next April’s World Cup qualifer in Rome and they achieved that by comfortably winning their opening two games, against the Ukraine (4-0) and Scotland (4-1), with Clewlow on target against the Scots.

A 1-0 defeat to Germany in their final group game meant a semi-final against world number one Holland, whose 2-0 win came courtesy of a goal in each half.