Canterbury's Great Britain forward Helen Grant has been forced to retire from the game at the age of 29 after a long-standing knee injury.

Grant, who joined Canterbury during the winter break, scored in every National League game until the end of the season and captained the side on her last appearance.

A knee injury first sustained in 1997 has caused the onset of early arthritis and the Yorkshire-born forward said: "There hasn’t been a training session since 2005 that I haven’t had to take painkillers to get me through and these days I can spend two days after a match hobbling around."

Grant played 105 times and scored 30 goals for England – including being top-scorer for her country in the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games – and added 11 caps and four goals for the GB team.

She added: "I am disappointed to be retiring at such a young age but I have always thought you play to play against the best and I frustratingly I can’t do that anymore."