IT WILL be a big day for Burnley on Thursday when Tom Heaton and Sam Vokes are on opposing sides when England play Wales at Euro 2016.

It may be that neither feature in the game, although hopefully Vokes will get a chance for Wales at some point considering the form he finished the season in for Burnley, but it will be a great occasion for the club.

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With those two and Ireland’s Stephen Ward it shows how far Burnley have come in recent years. To have three players involved at the European Championships is fantastic and a really good sign for the club.

It’s now a much bigger game for England. When Roy Hodgson named his team to face Russia I was shocked to see he had left Jamie Vardy out after his Premier League form this season.

England had plenty of chances and had Vardy been playing they may have been able to put the game to bed.

Instead they could only draw and now they need a result against Wales, and I have to say I think the Welsh have got a great chance. They are getting the best out of Gareth Bale and they look a really well organised team with a good approach, while England don’t seem to have settled on a plan.

As a proud Northern Irishman I was disappointed to see us lose to Poland in our first game, but it has to he said Poland were the much better side and I don’t think we’d have scored if we’d had another 90 minutes to try.

The Queen celebrated her 90th birthday wearing a green suit and I thought it was a good omen for Northern Ireland, but it wasn’t to be.

It’s a big game against the Ukraine now and we have to get a result in that one.

I have sons and grandsons over in France watching Northern Ireland, so I was concerned to see how easily Russian fans got flares into the stadium on Saturday night.

It doesn’t look good for France’s security but hopefully that will get better from now on in and we’ve seen the last of the trouble.