We watched England v France at a Black Country sports bar, and despite the heartbreak the atmosphere was 'electric'

Supporters of the Three Lions packed into The Britannia Sports Bar in Wollaston, Stourbridge, as well as a marquee for the eagerly-anticipated clash.

And the atmosphere was electric with England songs being blasted to hype up the many fans who came out in their national team shirts and union flags.

It started off with well-known chants – including one about Harry Maguire's ability to head the ball – as the players emerged onto the pitch from the tunnel.

And then there was a spine-tingling rendition of God Save The King with shouts of "come on England" as the national anthem blared in the stadium in Qatar.

But less than 20 minutes later were sighs and groans when Pickford was beaten from outside the box – with shouts of he "had to do better" – after a suspected foul on winger Bukayo Saka in the build up to it, which prompted calls and shouts at the referee to chalk it off and consult VAR.

And there were shouts at the referee to award a penalty to England for an incident in the box where Harry Kane went down in the first half after a tackle from behind.

There were cheers of "Jude" as Stourbridge's own Jude Bellingham – who has been praised for having a fantastic World Cup so far – had a spectacular attempt on goal.

And soon the Three Lions battled back to parity, before a header from Olivier Giroud and a missed penalty from England's number nine sealed the team's World Cup fate.

Among those upset by the result was 72-year-old Ken Wilkinson, from Smethwick, who had turned out to the pub in his England shirt to support and felt "robbed" by it.

He said: ""We were robbed. The referee was ****. The first goal, it was a foul on Saka so it shouldn't have stood and then Harry Kane should have had a penalty then - I know we had some in the game – but that one there was a penalty.

"If you're being attacked from behind it's a foul, but the player went between his legs and it was over the line. It should have been a penalty, and ok you can argue that it was outside the box or not but it was a foul and the goal shouldn't have been given.

"We were robbed. The referee, you could tell from the start he was not for us. We were definitely robbed here - if they would've done their job (France's) goal wouldn't have stood and we would've had a penalty.

"And the missed penalty is a missed penalty, you can't turn time back – but we should have had another one in the first half."

Veronica Williams, from Great Barr, was another who was disappointed but proud of the team and how they performed. She added: "They played the best I've seen them play, but they were unlucky – I feel a lot of the big decisions went against them, but overall I thought it was a really good performance."

One of the most notable characters from the evening was Neil Stearn, from Smethwick, who was dressed in an outfit inspired by West Bromwich Albion legend Jeff Astle – nicknamed "the King" by the fans – complete with a bold outfit including an England flag as a cape.

And he summed up the bitter defeat with "that's England", adding: "As a performance, It's the best performance I've seen from them because the group stages were awful. Overall we've got to the quarter-finals and I think that was the best performance I've seen from them for about 12 years."

Despite the missed penalty, and the overall result, the fans were overall proud of the England team and gave them a round of applause as the full-time whistle sounded out.

Landlord Wayne Etheridge added: "The atmosphere has been great, especially in the marquee, but obviously a lot of people are disappointed by the result. I don't think the decisions were right, especially with the first goal, and everyone is really disappointed because we were more than capable of winning the whole thing.

"Everyone has been enjoying themselves and there's been a great atmosphere – we got everyone hyped for the match by playing the England tunes and the response was great."