ENGLAND fans enjoyed quite a journey during the 2018 World Cup - but few will have clocked up more miles than Oxford United fan Ash Mason.

The Three Lions reached their first global semi final in 28 years and the Cholsey resident attended every game - despite flying home three times during the tournament.

Mr Mason’s frequent flights totalled more than 17,000 miles and thousands of pounds, but he insisted it was worth it to see Gareth Southgate’s men reach the last four.

He said: “It’s been the best tournament we’ve done.

“Normally the country’s great and the football’s rubbish but this time we’ve had some good performances.”

The U’s fan has followed England all over the world for 15 years and been to every tournament since the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

He manages a meat import company and knew he would have to minimise time off work, but missing the finals was never an option.

After travelling out for England’s opening victory over Tunisia, he returned to the UK before flying back ahead of the 6-1 thrashing of Panama.

Mr Mason took in the defeat to Belgium and second round penalty shoot-out win over Colombia before coming home for a second time.

The earlier games allowed Mr Mason and his friends to explore new locations such as Volgograd and Nizhny Novgorod and these provided some of the highlights of the trip.

He said: “At a tournament the first night’s always a good one and we ended up in a bar drinking with loads of Russian fans.

“I’d already been to Russia a few times so I knew it was a nice place but had never visited the smaller cities, which were beautiful.”

The United fan admits he did not expect the Three Lions to reach the last eight and had no choice but to book a day trip for the quarter-final against Sweden.

Mr Mason left Stansted Airport at 6am on Saturday before returning at 3am the next day - but he was rewarded with a 2-0 victory.

He flew back to Russia for the semi-final and was due to stay until Monday, but came home yesterday following the agonising 2-1 extra-time defeat to Croatia.

He said: “It’s always gutting when you crash out of a tournament and I’ve obviously experienced it before.

“You instantly go on your phone and book a flight home.

“I’m happy with how far we got but when you get this far you start to believe.

“Once Croatia equalised I wanted to think we’d beat them but they were on top.”

Despite semi-final heartbreak, the United supporter comes home with overwhelmingly positive memories.

Before the tournament, England fans were warned they could be targeted by Russian hooligans after they were attacked in Marseille during Euro 2016.

The World Cup has thankfully been free of unsavoury incidents, with Mr Mason revealing he never once feared for his safety.

He said: “The Russian people were so friendly and couldn’t do enough for us.

“We’re always told something is going to happen to us and it never does - we were told we’d get murdered in the townships in South Africa and held at gunpoint in Rio.

“We actually met a few Russian guys who were fighting in Marseille and they told us they were paid.”