By Mark Staniforth, PA Sport

David Dolan's gigantic gamble paid off handsomely at the MEN Arena as he brought the curtain down on the Commonwealth boxing competition by claiming super-heavyweight gold.

The Sunderland student was victorious in his first-ever tournament at the higher weight, but his was one of the host nation's precious few success stories.

Light-welterweight Darren Barker was the only other Englishman to claim gold as the host nation finished with two fewer than they achieved in Kuala Lumpur four years ago.

Three others had to settle for silver and two bronzes completed the medal tally at seven - one less than predicted by head coach Ian Irwin as a target to secure the continuation of the same level of lottery funding.

Those team members who failed to secure a place on the podium face an anxious wait to see by how much their slice of the £30million lottery funding - which allowed many to train for the Games full-time - is reduced.

Dolan had won three ABA titles at heavyweight but David Haye was always going to get the nod ahead of him.

Rather than miss out completely, Dolan and England's head coach Ian Irwin took the risk of moving him up a division for the first time in his career.

His 27-20 points win over Canadian David Cadieux which allowed him to follow in the footsteps of Audley Harrison was proof that Dolan's decision had been the right one.

"It did cause some controversy putting Dolan in at super-heavyweight but we discussed it and I put my trust in him," said Irwin.

"The speed of his hands and feet made the difference. His final performance was a classic. The smaller man jabs and moves his feet and wins because of his better boxing skills."

It was not the first gamble the Sunderland man had taken this year. Dolan suffered a stress fracture of a facet joint in his back in his first fight in defence of his ABA title in February. He ignored the injury and went on to win.

"It wasn't a really serious injury but it was painful and for a time I had trouble walking," Dolan admitted.

"It was in my first fight in the ABAs and somehow I managed to get through, but I was out for a long time afterwards."

Barker persuaded his mother Jackie to come to watch him fight for the first time ever.

While the fighter from the famous Repton club in London's east end sank to his knees in celebration after gaining an 18-14 points win over Mohammed Kayongo of Uganda, she burst into tears.

"I've spoken to my mum and she's still crying," said Barker, more than two hours after his win. "She's in tears but she's proud of me.

"But there's no way she'll be back. She told me she wasn't doing this again.

"I'm glad she was here to witness it. She understood how big an occasion it was and she was proud to be here."

Darran Langley, Steven Birch and Paul Smith all had to settle for silver, while Mark Moran and local favourite Andy Morris picked up deserved bronzes.

Irwin said: "We will go along to Sport England and say, these are the medallists, and these are the ones that didn't quite make it.

"Then we will set our targets for Athens and hope we do not lose many to the professionals. We can offer them the pride of wearing the England vest in the Commonwealth Games and give them the dream of winning an Olympic medal."

Jamie Arthur claimed Wales' first boxing gold since the great Howard Winstone 44 years ago when he beat Zambian lightweight Dennis Zimba 37-35.

Arthur, a 22-year-old scaffolder from Cwmbran, knew Winstone and dedicated his victory to the late former world featherweight champion.

"I'm sure he was up there watching me," Arthur said.

"I'll never be able to walk in Howard Winstone's shoes but if I can follow in his footsteps that would be great. He is a man who I always loved and respected."

Arthur now plans to spend time with his three-year-old son Daniel who was watching on the television back home.

Then he will consider whether to continue in Winstone's footsteps and turn professional.

He added: "I don't really want to answer that question now. I will go home and have some time off and then start thinking about it."