HEARTBROKEN football fans held 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 venues including the Village Hotel last night and watched on as England lost 2-1 to Croatia in the semi-final.

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

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.