'We messed up' - Just Eat apologises for England support ahead of Scotland clash

Nicola Docherty and Lee Alexander share a joke ahead of Scotland's World Cup meeting with England

The London-based platform, which allows people to search for local takeaway restaurants, place orders and pay online, posted from its UK-branded Twitter account on Saturday: "We're unofficially supporting the English female lions football team with the biggest cat and football expert we were allowed to use..."

The backing for the Lionesses sparked numerous angry responses from Scotland fans, who threatened to boycott the service and turn to rivals instead.

James Mcvean replied: "Rebrand yourself 'Just Eat England' then. Mon the Flowers o' Scotland."

Another Scot added: "You've just scored an own goal. After seeing this ad, I have deleted the Just Eat app from my phone, switched to Scoffable instead - based in Scotland."

Scoffable has since enjoyed a rise in popularity, and is issuing discounts to new customers who have switched from Just Eat.

An account called "Wallace's Sword" echoed the sentiment, writing: "OK, you support England.I will support another business. Your app has just officially left my phone."

Hundreds of users responded to the message by deleting the app and vowing to use alternatives, prompting the company to issue a hasty climbdown.

Earlier today, the account posted: "We would like to apologise for any offence caused by our recent football post or follow-up responses - this was not intended.

"We of course support all our home nation football teams and we acknowledge that this wasn't reflected in the content - we messed up. We wish both the Scottish and English teams the best of luck."

However, it wasn't enough for some Scots, many of whom are now using the hashtag #JustDeleteJustEat on the social media platform.