The dream for many thousands of English football fans was to simply see their team lift that elusive first trophy since 1966 - for most the first major honour of their lives.

Before the game, Gareth Southgate had spoken about how he did not believe in fairytales, but he did believe in those dreams of many of supporters. Thousands of fans have followed England around Germany since the first game against Serbia in the group stages a month ago.

Some have stayed on through a gruelling European Championships as a supporter ploughing thousands into the project along the way. And some only opted to see England in the latter stages but things began to get very real after last Wednesday night when the Three Lions beat Holland 2-1 in Dortmund.

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The Germany tournament suddenly offered the chance to not only see England win that first major honour since the days of Bobby Moore and the Charlton brothers, but the opportunity to see the Three Lions play in a final showpiece away from Wembley for the first time ever, let alone win something.

And as the days ticked by some left it right until the last minute to push on with their plans. Some took a ferry to Amsterdam and got trains from the UK, others city-hopped their way to Poland and........

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