Britain’s skip, Eve Muirhead, has admitted her devastation after missing a makable shot to secure a women’s curling bronze, which would have been Team GB’s sixth medal of the Winter Olympics. Instead she inadvertently pushed Japan’s stone into position to allow her opponents to win 5-3.

It was a nervy and conservatively played affair, with little between the teams going into final end. Japan had a 4-3 lead but that was balanced by Britain having the hammer. With one stone remaining, Muirhead had one in hand – and what looked like a good chance to go for two shots and the victory. Instead she threw it too wide and hard and, as Japan’s curlers shed tears of joy, Muirhead kicked a stone in frustration as she left the ice.

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“The shot was there for the game and as a skip you’re going to try to play that shot to win,” said Muirhead. “We win as a team, we lose as a team. As skip, it’s me that misses the shot but it’s a full-on team effort out there. Any other day I guarantee that shot would’ve come off. And for this week we’ve just been the wrong side of the inch.”

Having won bronze four years ago in Sochi, Muirhead admitted coming fourth was particularly hard to take. “Every game you lose is hard,” she said. “This time around it is very hard. It’s really difficult to reflect on it just now.

“We gave it our all out there. As a team we battled to the very, very end. Unfortunately for me I had the chance and it didn’t come off. It’s going to take a bit of time to reflect.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Disappointment for the Great Britain women’s curling team as they miss out on bronze after defeat to Japan. Photograph: David Davies/PA

Anna Sloan, the vice skip, also admitted she was hurting after the defeat. “In an Olympic Games, they always say that fourth place is the worst place to be,” she said. “It’s raw and it’s hurting right now. We gave it our all out there , we couldn’t have done any more. As much as the result didn’t go our way, that’s sport.”

Meanwhile the Team GB coach, Glenn Howard, also gave his backing to Muirhead’s decision to go for broke at the death. “What I love is the fact we had a shot to win the game,” he said. “I said all along it would come down to the last shot, hopefully we had it in hand.

“Unfortunately Eve missed it. It wasn’t an easy shot but it was a makable shot. We’re disappointed but they gave it their all. Eve definitely made the right call taking that shot, unfortunately it just didn’t curl and work out for us.”