A NORTH-EAST man missed out on the chance to watch England's opening game in the World Cup with Sir Geoff Hurst - because he had to work.

Instead, Alan Reed, business manager at the SG Petch car dealership, in Darlington, travelled to Northampton on the eve of the England-Sweden clash to have dinner with his hero.

The 40-year-old Newcastle supporter was treated to an dinner and a night at the Northampton Hilton, before returning to Darlington to work early the next day, after winning a competition organised by ASA Insurance.

He said: "I really did have to work because a few people were on holiday and it was too late to swap shifts.

"It was worth just meeting him for dinner - he was very friendly and interesting.

"He is a real hero of mine. I don't remember the 1966 World Cup, but I do remember the 1970 one, which was pretty much the same squad.

"We talked about whether the players these days would have been able to hack the game in the 1970s, because it was a lot rougher then, and he talked about the international games he had played in."

Mr Reed, from Spennymoor, County Durham, said that after hearing that the game ended a 1-1 draw, he was not upset to have missed it.

"After the way we played that day, it was probably just as well I didn't watch it with Sir Geoff. I think the air would have been blue," he said.