Ice-cool Tommy Doyle kept his nerve from the penalty spot as England made it two wins from two at the UEFA U17 European Championships.
Alessio Riccardi’s clinical first-half finish had left Steve Cooper’s Young Lions with work to do but they produced a stirring comeback, Arvin Appiah levelling in the second period before Doyle converted to hand England the advantage in Group A.
The lively Xavier Amaechi stung the palms of Azzurri keeper Alessandro Russo with eight minutes on the clock but five minutes later, the Young Lions’ bright start was brought to a halt.
Nicolo Fagioli stole possession and Riccardi, wearing the captain’s armband, took a touch before and guiding a side-footed effort into the bottom corner to open the scoring.
England manfully set about restoring parity and on the half-hour mark, Matty Daly passed up the chance to bag his second goal of the tournament.
Ameachi and Vontae Daley-Campbell combined superbly on the right wing to allow the former to charge into the box and cut the ball back from the byline for the unmarked Daly but the Huddersfield Town midfielder skewed his effort agonisingly wide to let Italy off the hook.
Late in the first period, a Young Lions corner caused chaos in the Azzurri area and after goalie Russo just about managed to beat away an Amaechi strike, Appiah was flagged for offside as he attempted to convert the follow-up.
Nine minutes into the second period, another golden opportunity for Cooper’s charges to level went begging as Buyako Saka fed Appiah and he nipped past the despairing challenge of Alberto Barazzetta before teeing up half-time substitute Bobby Duncan but the striker’s attempted finish curled just past the post.
Rayhaan Tulloch bent an effort narrowly off-target as the tournament hosts continued to rap at the door.
And the equaliser duly arrived in the 63rd minute as Nottingham Forest’s Appiah drove into the box with purpose and cracked home a sweetly-struck howitzer to level things up.
The match was turned on its head shortly afterwards when Duncan and Garner refused to give up on a ball on the edge of the Italy area and eventually fed Tulloch, who was tripped by Giuseppe Leone.
As he had done in the Young Lions’ opening win over Israel, Doyle took responsibility from 12 yards and sent Russo the wrong way to raise the roof on the Bescot Stadium.
There was still time for Amaechi to draw a fine save from goalie Russo while Edoardo Vergani wasn’t far off-target from a free-kick but England required no garnish to a superb comeback.
England: 1 Luca Ashby-Hammond (Fulham); 12 Vontae Daley-Campbell (Arsenal); 5 Ethan Laird (Manchester United); 3 Nathaneal Ogbeta (Manchester City); 17 Bukayo Saka (Arsenal); 4 James Garner (Capt) (Manchester United); 7 Arvin Appiah (Nottingham Forest); 8 Tommy Doyle (Manchester City); 19 Matty Daly (Huddersfield Town); 11 Xavier Amaechi (Arsenal); 9 Tyreece John-Jules (Arsenal)
Substitutes: 2 Dylan Crowe (Ipswich Town) for Daley-Campbell 40; Bobby Duncan (unattached) for John-Jules 40; 16 Rayhaan Tulloch (West Bromwich Albion) for Daly 55
Substitutes not used: 13 Marcus Dewhurst (Sheffield United); 6 Ajibola Alese (West Ham United); Elijah Dixon-Bonner (Liverpool); 18 Trae Coyle (Arsenal); 20 Folarin Balogun (Arsenal)
Goals: Appiah 63, Doyle (pen) 69
Cautions: Daley-Campbell 18; Tulloch 56
Head coach: Steve Cooper
