Jo Goode and Simon Archer grabbed Britain's tenth medal of the Olympic Games when they secured bronze in a heart-stopping clash.

It was a first-ever medal in badminton for Britain at the Games and the mixed doubles pair earned it after facing two serves on match point.

Goode, 27, from Bognor, had told the Argus last week she felt the pairing could create history for British badminton, but even Jo must have feared the worst in this bronze medal play-off.

With Archer carrying a chest injury into the game which meant he was virtually unable to smash without pain, they came face to face with fourth seeds, Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen, of Denmark.

But Archer shrugged off the pain as the British pair produced one of their grittiest performances to take their place on the podium, with a 15-4, 12-15, 17-14 win.

Goode was delighted, particularly after losing yesterday's semi-final against the Indonesian pair from match point up.

She said: "I thought it was a goner again. But we kept our heads together.

"We are strong mentally, we kept it together. We were so low this morning it was a great achievement to get ourselves really up for this game.

"We knew it was the last one and we really went for it."

Archer said: "It is such a proud moment for me.

"I cannot express just how delighted I am for British badminton that we have won a medal here.

"It is a massive achievement on behalf of the whole squad, and it shows that we have a sport that is capable of producing world class players in Britain.

"My chest was really causing me problems because I couldn't smash properly and I made so many mistakes.

"At the end it was hurting badly and you could see just how much it restricted me because of the number of shots I put into the net."

Despite the prize, the British star still believes they threw away the chance of bringing home gold.

"I can't tell you how gutted I am that we were not in that final, because the way we played for much of the semi-final, we should have been.

"It is better than nothing to win bronze, but it is still not the medal that we wanted to win here."

Their achievement should not be under-estimated, for Britain have failed to secure a medal at the Games since the sport was introduced at Barcelona in 1992.

It looked as though they would miss out again as Archer's injury appeared to be worsening as the game wore on.

The British pair took the first set at a canter, as the Danes took time to get into the match.

"We played perfect mixed doubles in the opening set," continued Archer.

"And we didn't give them any opportunity to come into the game.

"But in the second we lost our way a bit and started to make a lot of mistakes.

"But we weren't going to allow ourselves to be beaten and fought for every point."

Sogaard and Olsen came back at them to take the second in what was a more comfortable way than the scoreline suggested.

When they came out for the third it looked as though they would take control once again and go on to claim the medal when they led 9-6.

Goode and Archer, from Worcestershire, fought their way back to level the scores and from then on it was a battle of wills.

The Danes seemed to have won it when they had two serves on 14-12 but could not get the shuttle on the floor and it was the British players who this time made them pay, taking the match into setting and ensuring Britain a place on the podium.