VICTORY..FOR FANS

ENGLAND'S fans turned in a rousing second-half display... but the players failed to match it.

- PAUL BYRNE and ANDY LINES

For most of the second half, as Harry Kane and co struggled to break down a stubborn Slovenian defence, thousands of Three Lions supporters sung the theme from 1963 war movie The Great Escape.

Sure enough, they escaped from Group C as winners to set up a clash with a third-placed side on Sunday, but a sleepy 0-0 draw with Slovenia did little to excite the fans in Cologne's RheinEnergieStadion.

England had been allocated 10,000 tickets for the Euro 2024 match but at least double that number filled three-quarters of the stadium.

Hundreds of flags and banners from countless English towns and cities were draped from every available vantage point.

And once again, their behaviour was top of the table.

Thomas Concannon, from the Football Supporters' Association, said: "The fans have been great. For the amount of people who are here, to have had so few problems, if any at all, is fantastic." England fans were again praised for their behaviour after no incidents of disorder were reported in the build-up to the game.