ENGLAND captain Scott Mitchell was elated after helping his country come back from the brink to clinch the Europe Cup.

The Bransgore thrower, alongside Nigel Heydon, Dan Day and Paul Hogan, edged past rivals Holland on the final day of competition to seal the overall crown in Budapest.

With points earned during the singles, pairs and a four-man team event contributing towards the overall result, Mitchell admitted he thought England had blown their chances during his third outing at the tournament.

Scotty Dog’s men were knocked out by the Dutch at the quarter-final stages of the team format.

The Dorset star went down in a one-leg sudden death shootout against Martijn Kleermaker, after the teams had played out an intense 8-8 draw.

But despite requiring snookers on finals’ day, England pulled off the unthinkable to regain the crown they had let slip two years previously.

Mitchell and Day did their bit by overcoming Kleermaker and Chris Landman 6-3 to seal the pairs’ title.

Sweden then beat Holland in the final of the team event – meaning England topped the overall standings.

Former Lakeside world champion Mitchell told the Daily Echo: “Basically, Sweden went and won it for us! They were pretty handy and turned them over – that was what won it.

“I was feeling the pressure because I was the one who lost the final game in the team event the night before.

“I had won the previous game to level it up and it kind of made sense for me with the momentum to go back on. After 15 darts I had left 80 and they were out in 14.

“The whole team was a little deflated and thought we had kind of blown it.

“We were sat there watching the team final thinking ‘is this going to go our way?’. We are all friends anyway and we tour together. It’s difficult to want somebody to lose so you win.

“But I was absolutely elated to know I was going to pick up a European cup. There is no money on it, you are just playing for medals. I never dreamed I would ever have one.”

Scotty Dog is this week back in action when he begins his quest to land the BDO World Masters title in Bridlington on Friday.