The latest leg of the Follow England Away tour found fans descending upon Helsinki from all directions.

Connections via Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Stockholm abounded but my favourite was a flight to Tallinn and then the ferry across to Helsinki.

Our direct flight from Stansted was relatively boring by comparison, but not involving much sleep, travelling after Thursday night’s awful performance against Greece at Wembley.

One of the best things about watching England away is meeting up with friends from other clubs, as we did with Jonathan, from WBA, and Lucy, from Oxford United.

We stayed three nights at the Scandic Grand Marina hotel, superbly located in the Katajanokka district, close to the waterfront. Everywhere is close to the water in Helsinki, with its 15km of coastal paths. The city is so clean, with wide, mainly cobbled streets, looking particularly resplendent in Autumnal colours. It is not that big a city and everywhere is walkable, although transport is plentiful and relatively cheap at 11 Euros a day, for all buses, trains, trams and ferries. My feet clocked more than 21,000 steps one day and they still haven’t forgiven me. There is plenty to see in Helsinki, with the magnificent Upsala Cathedral very close to where we stayed.

Beer wasn’t as expensive as everyone had told us, as we discovered some good local beers, Sandells and Aura, at seven Euros a metric pint. Eating out varied, but a very substantial lasagne at lunchtime cost 13.50 Euros and a salmon dinner around 18 Euros. So, we didn’t starve or go thirsty.

On match day, we had a sail over to Suomenlinna, the island fortress with its military history, defining Finland’s chaotic creation from centuries of Swedish and Russian domination.

In the late afternoon, we met in our adopted local for a few beers, moaning about our dire performance against Greece but looking forward to a better game against Finland. And not many England fans rated Lee Carsley’s chances of getting the manager’s job permanently.

The locals were very friendly and hospitable, and they had come to see England. Many of them were big fans of the Premier League, following their favoured teams. Jussi Jaaskelainen and Mixu Paatelainen got special mentions when we said we were from Bolton. It was a 15-minute tram ride to the Olympiastadion, with the Finland fans singing they were the happiest people in the world and they proved to be a happy bunch.

There was a good atmosphere in and around the ground with a fanzone outside the stadium. The police kept in the background, although there were plenty of burly security men, built like Giant Haystacks, keeping order around the place.

We had good seats in a specially-designated area, where standing was not allowed. The match kicked off after all the usual UEFA pre-match build-up and England started well, with Jack Grealish putting us ahead after 10 minutes.

Despite our good start, Finland came back into it and should have had a couple of goals but for the Finnish being unable to finish.

Trent Alexander-Arnold put us two up with a superb free-kick before Declan Rice slotted in our third from Ollie Watkins ‘ cross.

Finland got a well-deserved consolation goal late on and everybody went home happy, having got our Greek tragedy out of our systems.