ANTHONY CLARK and Donna Kellogg (pictured) today won the mixed doubles at the the European Badminton Championships in Herning, Denmark.
For Kellogg it made up for losing the women's doubles earlier in the day when she and partner Gail Emms were defeated.
Kellogg and Clark were staring defeat in the face at 19-16 down in the second game against fourth seeds Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk of Poland, who yesterday had beaten Britain's Olympic silver medallists Nathan Robertson and Emms.
But England's second seeds clawed their way back into the match by taking that nailbiting second game 22-20 after losing the first 21-16.
When they went 4-3 up in the decider it was the first time they had been in front since the opening point of the match.
They built up a 17-10 lead and withstood a Polish fightback before winning the gold medal on their second match point in a 58-minute battle 16-21 22-20 21-15.
Clark said: "We didn't play well in the first two sets.
"That was so frustrating because we know just what we can do.
"At 19-16 down in the second we knew we had to dig deep.
"Now we've won our first European title."
Earlier Kellogg and Emms lost the women's doubles to second seeds Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Lena Frier Kristiansen of Denmark 21-18 21-18 in the opening final of the afternoon.
Kellogg said: "I didn't want to go home with three silver medals.
"I'm so relieved.
"Our determination got us through."
Emms said: "I have been playing some brilliant badminton this week but they played better today.
"I would love to have won two titles here but it was not to be.
"You have to take the losses with the wins."
It meant England finished with a team silver, plus gold for Clark and Kellogg and bronze for Emms and Robertson in the mixed, and silver for Emms and Kellogg in the women's doubles.
