AFTER the heartache of missing out on a place at the 2012 Olympic Games, Daniel Keatings almost walked away from his gymnastics career.

Around 4pm yesterday afternoon, as an ear-splitting roar filled The Hydro in Glasgow, it's fair to say the Scot was pretty glad he didn't.

By taking silver, Keatings became the first Scottish man to win an individual all-around medal in the Commonwealth Games. It marked a starkly different experience to his debut eight years ago, when the 24-year-old had to be wheeled from the arena in Melbourne with a triple stress fracture in his back.

The gold and bronze medals went to England with Max Whitlock claiming the top spot and Nile Wilson third. Whitlock was arguably always the favourite, but Keatings was never going to grant him victory without squeezing every possible hundredth out of his own performance.

Both produced a raft of top-drawer routines, including a huge 15.866 on pommel horse from Whitlock and 15.533 for Keatings.

Snapping at their heels was Wilson, the dark horse of the English team, who competed with a maturity far beyond his 18 years. Scotland's Daniel Purvis had looked a threat for the bronze medal but after a confident opener on floor, a series of errors, including a fall on pommel horse, saw his chance slip away.

Whitlock led by almost two clear marks going into the final rotation, while a mere 0.333 separated Keatings in second from third-placed Wilson. That teed up a nail-biting decider on high bar, with Keatings the first of the trio to perform.

It could have been all too easy to crumble at that stage, but Keatings did not falter, even if afterwards he did admit to shaking with nerves throughout his routine. He finished with a landing so solid you would have thought his feet had been stuck to the mat with super glue, exiting with a grin wider than the Clyde Tunnel as the words "goan yersel wee man" flashed up on the arena screen.

He posted 14.766, a score matched by Wilson moments later. That meant 0.333 remained the final margin between the pair, with Keatings on 88.298 and Wilson a whisker behind with 87.965. Whitlock broke the hallowed 90-mark barrier to top the final rankings on 90.631.

"I was shaking the whole way through the final routine," said Keatings. "I don't actually remember half of it. I just remember thinking: 'I'd better not fall off now', but I'm glad I landed the dismount and it was more of a relief than anything."

Keatings, who hails from Corby in Northamptonshire, competes for the host nation on account of a Scottish father. A two-time European champion on pommel horse, he has long been plagued by injury, not least having to undergo a complete anterior cruciate knee ligament reconstruction four years ago and sustaining torn ankle ligaments which robbed him of a Team GB place at London 2012.

"I was so disappointed not to make the Olympics," he said. "Paul [Hall, his coach] sat me down and I did think about finishing with the sport, but he persuaded me to stay in it. I'm so glad I did and I owe a lot to him."

Back then, said Keatings, he struggled to ever visualise a moment like this in his career. "I was thinking about finishing because of the disappointment," he said. "But your disappointments can make you stronger - it got me in the gym and working even harder than I was before."

With two silvers now in the bag, Keatings insisted his ambitions don't end there. He has three more medal opportunities over the next two days with individual apparatus finals on floor, pommel horse and high bar. "I'd love to finish with a gold," he said. "I've got a big pommel start score and who knows where that could put me on the podium."

Purvis finished in fourth in the all-around competition with 84.865, while fellow Scot Frank Baines was sixth on 82.356.

Baines will have a day to reflect and re-group before he challenges for three individual apparatus medals on vault, parallel bars and high bar tomorrow. Purvis will be back in action over the next two days on pommel horse, rings and parallel bars, while Adam Cox, another member of the Scottish silver medal winning team, will compete in the vault final tomorrow.