A Commonwealth Games medal is always something to be cherished but bronze is not the colour the Black Sticks women's hockey team were after.
They won the medal in Glasgow yesterday with a decisive 5-2 win over South Africa, with Tauranga's Gemma Flynn, Sam Charlton and Rose Keddell all involved. Flynn scored the fourth goal from a penalty corner.
The Black Sticks won five of their six games but lost the one that mattered to England in the semifinal, after losing in a penalty shoot-out.
Charlton admits she has mixed emotions about what happened over the last two days.
"Obviously we were going for the gold but a bronze medal is not to be scoffed at," she said. "We were all pretty devastated not to make the final but after winning the game we were all happy to come away with the medal. It would have been quite easy to have dropped our bundle and not give our all in the last game, but everyone is stoked we pulled through and got the bronze."