By Scott Wilson, PA Sport

A run of three unanswered points three minutes from time was enough to give Jamaica a 55-53 win over hosts England in an exciting bronze medal play-off at the Manchester Evening News Arena.

England's players were inconsolable as they left the court after a match that had swung first one way, then the other, before finally ending in Jamaican bronze.

The Caribbean side led by one point going into the final quarter after England had rallied superbly to close a four-point deficit.

The two sides then proceeded to trade points in front of another capacity crowd, with extra-time looking a distinct possibility.

England took control when Australia-born Abby Teare netted from long range to put them 50-49 ahead with less than five minutes on the clock.

But goal shooter Elaine Davis held her nerve to pull Jamaica clear, and her side withstood intense late English pressure to record only their 14th win over the host nation.

Trailing by one with less then 30 seconds left, England had a late chance to level, but stand-in centre Karen Aspinall overthrew her pass to Alex Astle and Jamaica swept down the other end to seal victory.

The hosts' game was built on the platform offered by the defensive solidity of Sonia Mkoloma and Amanda Newton.

Goal keeper Mkoloma, consistently England's best player throughout the tournament, was in fine form again.

She made two key interceptions within the opening five minutes of the game and continued to harass the Jamaican shooters as the game entered its crucial final period.

Goal shooter Astle, so short of confidence in the defeats by Australia and New Zealand, finally rediscovered her goalscoring touch, and Teare netted a number of long-range attempts to keep England in contention.

But Jamaica deserved their narrow win, using their pace and agility to pull the English mid-courters out of position.

Diminutive centre Nadine Bryan was instrumental in most of Jamaica's attacking moves, and wing defence Sharon Wiles showed off her athleticism by breaking up England's play in the middle third.

The Jamaican players embraced at the final whistle as their first-ever Commonwealth netball medal was secured.

England performance director Wai Taumaunu congratulated Jamaica, but admitted she was "devastated" her side had not won a medal.

"Well done to Jamaica because they played well," said Taumaunu. "But we're devastated not to get a medal.

"The players are very disappointed because losing like that is hard to take.

"We're gutted at the result. "We didn't make the most of the opportunities that came our way.

"Possession wasn't the problem. Possession wise we had more than they did, but we didn't make enough breaks to hurt them." .

England lost to Australia and New Zealand - the two superpowers of the world game - in the early stages of the competition, but that came as no surprise given England have only recorded two wins against the pair in over 90 meetings.

Losing out to Jamaica is different though, and Taumaunu admitted this defeat hurt more than the others earlier in the week.

"We don't have the depth of Australia or New Zealand, but then again neither do Jamaica," she said.

"If you look at their bench there's a lot of young players on there, but they still managed to beat us."

The Jamaicans, ranked fourth in the world coming into the tournament, surpassed themselves this week.

"It was just a great performance from all the girls," said Jamaica captain Oberon Pitterson. "I can't single anyone out for special praise.

"We're overwhelmed with our first Commonwealth medal, but I think we deserve it.

"We knew we had the capability and the type of game to trouble England, but we knew it was going to be difficult.

"We stuck to our task well even though things were really tight at the end of the game."

Jamaica coach Maureen Hall was especially proud of her players' ability to shut out a raucous Manchester Evening News Arena crowd.

"Our concentration was fantastic today and we managed to play our game and forget about everything else," she said.

"Funnily enough, we always seem to play better outside Jamaica than we do at home.

"I'm just incredibly proud of how they all performed against a very good England team."