Ref. 30906-62FOOTBALL is a game of two halves but disappointed drinkers at a Swindon pub were deprived of the second 45 minutes on Sunday.

And the landlord of O'Neills in Fleet Street is hoping there won't be a repeat of the fiasco during today's screening of the England v Switzerland match.

Around 500 England supporters packed into the pub expecting drama on the pitch as Our Boys took on France.

But at half-time the screen suddenly went blank. In spite of the best efforts of landlord Richard Crickmar, the Sky pictures beamed live from Lisbon in Portugal could not be recovered.

Within minutes around 250 people had left to watch the rest of the action elsewhere, sending profits crashing.

Now Mr Crickmar is busy counting the cost and doing everything possible to ensure it does not happen again.

He said: "We handed some drink vouchers around by way of an apology but I would like to say again how sorry we are to the customers who have been let down. That bothers me more than the financial cost."

But the good news is that a Sky engineer has fixed the problem for today's game.