By Ian Gordon, PA Sport

Chelmsford's James Gibson spearheaded a sensational clean sweep for England in the 50metres breaststroke at the Commonwealth games in Manchester.

The Commonwealth record holder clocked 27.72 secs to bring England's its eighth gold of the Games and his second medal to add to the bronze he won in the 100m.

Nuneaton's Adam Whitehead added to his gold in the 100m event with silver in 27.79secs to just edge out Bath University's Darren Mew by 0.01secs.

Gibson's success ensured England will definitely finish ahead of Australia's Ian Thorpe in the gold medal count and takes them three ahead of their tally of five from the last Games in Kuala Lumpur.

The one-two-three was another warning to the Australians that British swimming is on the rise after the debacle of Sydney 2000 when they failed to win a single medal.

Mew would have been looking for at least silver after setting the second fastest time in the heats, just 0.01secs off the Games record of 27.56secs clocked by Gibson, but was thwarted by Whitehead.

Whitehead admitted he expected to claim bronze medal - and consoled team-mate Mew, who was expected to push Gibson very close.

He told BBC television: "I was never expecting that. When I was seeing the race beforehand I saw myself coming third.

"It was great - a one-two-three for the fans here and the fans at home but I feel a bit sorry for Darren."

Mew added: "We got a one-two-three and that's what we came out to do."

Gibson said: "A 1-2-3 shows great strength of character on the part of everyone. "Roll on the Olympics!"