CHANTS OF 'come on England' and "football's coming home" could be heard in Southampton pubs this weekend.

The atmosphere was buzzing at 5 Rivers Sports Bar on Sunday afternoon.

Football fans descended on the watering hole in Bevois Valley Road to watch England clash with Croatia in their first match of the Euro 2020 tournament.

Many punters praised the event which saw the national team secure a 1-0 victory at Wembley, as simply "brilliant".

They enjoyed the game on wide-screen TVs while basking in the sun at the bar's recently opened beer garden.

Fans rallied together to support their team singing the national anthem at the opening of the match.

Callum Doran, 29, said: "It feels brilliant to be back out.

"There's a great atmosphere."

The carpenter from West End, even predicted the outcome of the game early on, saying: "England is going to win."

Friends, Chris Jenkins, 25, from Totton and Ryan White, 27, from Chandler's Ford, used to drink at the bar during their time at university in Southampton.

Both have stayed on in the area for work.

Chris said: "It's amazing to be back out. The sun is out. We know it's [the pub] good."

Meanwhile, Danny Barr, 33, from the St Mary's area of the city said: "It feels great to be out of lockdown.

"You could not ask for a better establishment."

Speaking to an Echo reporter before the game, manager, Karen Gray said: "Our hopes are to make everyone happy because everyone has been talking about the match.

"The pub is fully booked for the next two England games.

She said how work had been going on for weeks to transform the garden and have it ready for the day.

Raheem Sterling’s first major tournament goal got England’s Euro 2020 campaign off to a winning start as Gareth Southgate’s side overcame World Cup semi-final foes Croatia.

Sterling gave England the lead after 57 minutes with his first major tournament goal.

The Manchester City man was slipped in by Kalvin Phillips and he coolly fired a first-time effort in from 12 yards.

Sterling added: “It feels good. I’ve always said if I play at Wembley in a major tournament, I’m scoring. It’s great to finally do that. It’s great to get off to a win. Now we have the games to look forward to and hopefully go into them and win again.

“It’s been a long season for me, I couldn’t wait to get started with England and I knew it would be a positive one.”

Boss Gareth Southgate insisted Sterling’s deserved his starting spot.

He said: "He is a good player, his goal-scoring record suggests we should have faith with him,