ONE hundred and forty bacon rolls, 80 sausage sandwiches, 200 cups of teas and two vitally important World Cup goals.

It wasn't your normal Sunday morning in church.

Yesterday saw England fans pack into Holy Rood church in Stubbington to watch their team play Sweden on a huge pub-style screen.

And they munched on a traditional footy fans' breakfast as they cheered their heroes.

Holy Rood church, in Gosport Road, opened its doors to England fans yesterday in a bid to be more involved in the local community.

Church Warden Richard Craigie said it seemed to work.

He said: "I thought we would have about 50 to 60 people coming, but actually I counted 92 people in. And over a third or a half were non-church people.

"That is good because that is what this is about. It's about sharing the facilities and making friends with the community. I'm chuffed to bits with how it went."

Geoff Powell, 33, was there with his five-year-old son Connor and 11-month-old daughter Amy.

He said: "I have never been able to take my son into a pub to watch the football - they don't really have the right atmosphere for young kids. Connor wanted to watch the match on the big screen so we watched it here. It was perfect."

The timing of the Holy Rood's Sunday service was brought forward to allow church-goers to watch the match.

And volunteers worked in the kitchen to provide free refreshments as the fans cheered England on.

Both Holy Rood church in Stubbington and St Mary's Church in Portchester are taking part the Portsmouth diocese-wide project to open up to the local community.

They will both be open to show this Friday's crucial clash against Argentina at lunchtime, and England's final group game against Nigeria.