HEARTBROKEN football fans had their heads in their hands as England’s fairy tale World Cup came to an end.

Punters donning their white shirts and flags packed out pubs including Hogarths in Churchgate and watched on as England lost 2-1 to Croatia in the semi-final.

And the nerves turned to rapturous joy when Bury star Kieran Trippier rifled an exquisite free kick into the top right corner.

The roars from fans echoed around the premises as beer flew through the air, causing a slight temporary technical hiccup on the projector screen.

But the singing and cheering was silenced in the second half after Ivan Perisic headed home past Jordan Pickford around the 60-minute mark.

And the silence turned into despair as Mario Mandzukic fired in through Pickford’s legs 20 minutes into extra time.

There were shouts of anger throughout the rest of the game and pints were thrown at the screen in frustration before the referee blew the final whistle.

Chris Kieran, from Great Lever, said: "I am absolutely gutted. We should have finished them off in the first half.

"But they have done extremely well. I don't think we ever expected them to get that far."

But many fans remained in good spirits and showed their support by singing a rendition of ‘I'm England 'till I die' after the game.