AFTER a few days spent relaxing in Nice on the Côte d’Azur myself, Chris, Danny and Forest Ian headed north for the big game against neighbours Wales.

Thankfully our flight and trains were unaffected by the continuing French strikes and we made it to our base in Arras on Wednesday afternoon.

Arras is a lovely town just to the south of Lens where Thursday’s game would be played in the 41,229 capacity Stade Bollaert-Delelis.

The town boasts a couple of impressive squares with unique Flemish-Baroque-style townhouses.

I’m sure they’re usually fairly quiet, but, on Wednesday afternoon, La Place des Héros is throbbing with England and Wales fans all happily mingling.

On the day of the game, we make our way to Lens on the train and arrive to the tune of thousands of England fans already partying with loud music blaring out from almost every bar.

The atmosphere in the ground reached fever pitch for the anthems and as kick off approached, a shiver goes down the spine as I realise there are millions and millions of people watching this from all around the world and England and Wales are at a standstill.

The game was always going to be a nervy affair but when Wales go one-nil up through Bale, the England end fell silent.

Our performance in the first half wasn’t good enough, but in the second, Roy sends the boys out fighting and we get a deserved equaliser on 56 minutes through Vardy.

The Welsh sat back for the rest of the game but couldn’t quite hold out and the England of fans in the stadium went ballistic as somehow Sturridge poked the ball home in the 93rd minute.

This game signalled the end for me and Danny’s trip to France for the time being.

The Slovakia game on Monday was immensely frustrating. We dominated for long periods but didn’t get that bit of luck. I’m confident that we can win in the second round.