WELL it happened again. England crashed out of a major football tournament on penalties.

One minute a confident nation is on a high, expecting great things from our players. The next moment, we are all left despondent - or just plain "gutted".

For one reason or another we never quite make it, do we? Whether it's a hand of God, goalkeeping blunder, bad refereeing decision or unreliable penalty spot, it seems the footballing gods never seem to smile on us.

But let's take a few positives out of Euro 2004.

One abiding memory will be the sheer number of England flags on display up and down the country in the past couple of weeks.

More than ever, people were prepared to show their colours with pride and declare their belief in the national team. And what's wrong with that - no-one loves to party more than the British so let's not castigate ourselves too much for getting carried away with it all.

Last night apart, the tournament has brought a feel-good factor to the country and out in Portugal itself we've shown that we ARE the best in Europe when it comes to supporting our country - notwithstanding a few yobs in the Algarve who can hardly call themselves fans anyway.

On top of all this we had the bonus of Wayne Rooney - already beginning to look the shining star around which we can build future teams.

Let's wish him a speedy recovery from his injury sustained last night and look forward to the next party at the World Cup in two years' time.