MILLIONS of England fans suffered the heartbreak of watching their side crash out of the Euro 2000 championships to a late penalty last night.

Despite being outclassed for much of a match in which Kevin Keegan's side needed only to draw, England looked set to hang on and set up a quarter-final clash with Italy.

But Romania sealed a 3-2 victory when defender Phil Neville recklessly brought down Viorel Moldovan in the penalty area and Ioan Ganea sent goalkeeper Nigel Martyn the wrong way with the spot-kick.

A penalty from Newcastle United hero Alan Shearer, playing his last international, and a second from Michael Owen, looked like justifying the high hopes in pubs and clubs around the North-East which were raised by Saturday's historic win over Germany in the same Charleroi stadium.

After the defeat, Keegan said: "Of course I am devastated.

"We did not play well enough but with five minutes to go I thought we could hang on to something. But it was not to be.

"There was plenty of determination. If it was about endeavour and honesty we would have won the tournament."

Speculation on the future of the England manager immediately intensified, with a flurry of betting on a possible successor to Keegan with North-East managers heading the list.

Middlesbrough boss Bryan Robson was immediately installed as favourite to become the next England boss, with bookies William Hills at 9-2.

John Gregory is 6-1 second favourite to take over with Sunderland supremo Peter Reid next best at 8-1. Intriguingly, Shearer himself is being quoted as a 33-1 shot.

l Match report - Back Page