Five-a-side fun for England fans in baking hot Volgograd

A group of England supporters took on several Russian fans of the local team Rotor Volgograd in the baking 28C heat ahead of the Three Lions’ opener against Tunisia.

Luke Fern, a Bolton fan from Stockport, said: “There was about 10 of us from England taking on about 10 Russian guys.

“It’s all good-natured. There doesn’t seem to be many five-a-side rules, I think people are just going in the box.

“It’s really good fun.”

His friend Angus Lawless, 23, also from Stockport, said they found out about the game on Twitter and decided to join in.

While there was no official scorekeeper, he said he believed they had been 3-0 down at one point only to pull it back to 5-4 against a skilful side.

Mr Fern, 22, who travelled overnight with Mr Lawless by train for nearly 21 hours from Moscow, said the reception they had received had been “very welcoming”.

He added: “They’ve been very friendly.

“It’s a very different city to Moscow. It’s a bit harder to communicate here though because not everyone speaks English, whereas in Moscow it’s a bit more European.

“They’re really glad to have us here.

“There was obviously a lot of media hype back home saying they’re not going to be ready for this, they’re not going to be friendly but they are brilliant people.”

Mr Fern said he believed England would emerge 1-0 victors in a “scrappy” match, while Mr Lawless was more optimistic and predicted a 3-0 Three Lions win.