Agony for Blackpool ace Cardwell and Roses in netball's bronze medal match
Eleanor Cardwell’s Commonwealth Games ended in heartbreak as England missed out on a netball medal after suffering a second crushing defeat to Australia in Glasgow.
The Roses fell away after a promising first quarter to lose 68-50, emulating their earlier 66-47 defeat to the Diamonds in the group phase.
Blackpool goal shooter Cardwell watched from the sidelines until midway through the third quarter of the bronze medal match.
Her introduction sparked England to score five times without reply to trail 45-34 and then 49-36 with 15 minutes left to play but the gap was too much to bridge.
Australia, who had been forced to quickly regroup after Saturday’s stunning last-gasp semi-final loss to Jamaica, dominated the second half of the contest to secure the bronze medal.
England captain Fran Williams told TNT Sports: “It was just so tough. When you come off the back with such a short turnaround to play in a game where you would be rather playing in the game later on today is really hard.
“I was really proud of the way we showed up at the start and we just showed we weren't able to hold onto that with how the score blew out. We are gutted with that. Really disappointed.”
England head coach Anna Stembridge now intends to step aside from the role.
She said: “I have been really transparent form the start. It was always about being focused on this competition. We have been transparent that it will go to advert, the head coach position.
“I will have to take some time to reassess for myself and my family.”
On the game itself, she added: “We were looking for a strong start and we saw that to go goal for goal, but credit to the Diamonds. When they found their groove, they set the tone and we were chasing from there on really.
“The girls have been great. We went after connection, confidence and tactical clarity. They bought into that and they've connected brilliantly.
“They have shown great bounce back ability and that game against South Africa really epitomised how they galvanised together and we really stuck to our processes.
“We're disappointed, currently really hurting but we will build from this. Hopefully this group will go on to great things in terms of the World Cup next year.”