Telford pair slate Wales star at World Cup before realising they're berating his dad
A father and son supporting England at the World Cup were left with faces as red as the Wales shirt after unwittingly insulting a player to his own dad.
Graeme Harley and son Dylan, from Priorslee, Telford, have been to all the Three Lions' games so far, including Tuesday evening's 3-0 trouncing of Rob Page's Dragons.
The Burnley-supporting pair were among those basking in the glory at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Doha, where a strike from Phil Foden sandwiched between two crackers from Marcus Rashford sent England through to the last 16.
But that wasn't before a mildly cringe-worthy encounter on the way to the ground.
Graeme said: "On walking to the stadium with a fellow Burnley supporter, we noticed a Wales supporter in his shirt bearing the name 'Roberts'.
"We told him that Burnley have a Roberts playing for us [Connor Roberts] and that he was rubbish and not good enough for Burnley, never mind Wales.
"It only turns out that we were berating Connor Roberts's dad!
"He took it well and joined in the friendly banter."
Sharing their game day experience, he added: "It's safe to say that optimism is on the rise after the great result against Wales. I overheard someone asking in the crowd 'do you think they will be able to squeeze in the victory parade between the final and Christmas?'
"Our day started with three beefcake Americans ridiculing our feeble attempts at water aerobics by proceeding to do 50 press-ups each. The challenge was laid down but the 11 of us quickly decided that we couldn't do 50 press ups between us, so we let them win that one.
"There was lots of segregation in the bars which is the first time we have seen this. Myself and Dylan were not allowed into a Wales-dominated bar so we had to meet an old friend in the hotel lobby.
"There was a great atmosphere in the ground - we were quite close to the corner flag in the home end and it was chilly with the air con blasting our legs.
"Dull first half with many fans wanting Rashford taken off as a 'waste of space'. Cue the second half free kick. What do fans know about football anyway?
"Once one goal went in, Wales had to come out to play and we killed them off almost immediately with a second - after that it was just a matter of how many we would score. Foden makes such a difference with his energy in the final third - he makes things happen and won us the free kick by running at the defence.
"Great result, with the USA game long-forgotten!"
Graeme and Dylan are now looking forward to England's first knockout clash against Senegal on Sunday.
