England pegged back

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David Nugent and Leroy Lita, who had earlier missed an open goal, put Stuart Pearce's youngsters ahead before the Azzurri forced their way back into the reckoning through goals either side of the break from Giorgio Chiellini and Alberto Aquilani to keep themselves in the competition.

Softening the blow for Pearce is knowing a win on Sunday against Serbia, who reached the semi-finals after beating Czech Republic, will see them through to the last four.

He also saw his change in formation produce the open match of an otherwise defensive tournament so far, dispensing with the normal lone-striker formation to start with Lita and Nugent in attack, and the former almost got behind the Italians twice before his embarrassing miss.

Mark Noble, making his first start at under-21 level, played the ball through in the 17th minute and Lita rounded goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano but poked weakly wide before thumping an effort against the crossbar a minute later when he latched onto a free ball.

It was Nugent who grabbed the first, in the 24th minute, with a classic striker's finish. Leighton Baines provided the cross and the Preston striker steered home with a diving header.

Lita made amends for his earlier misses by tucking away the second. Riccardo Montolivo lost the ball to Nugent in a dangerous position, with Ashley Young then slipping Lita through to finish.

The Azzurri pushed forward, and after Wembley hat-trick hero Giampaolo Pazzini forced a save from Scott Carson, who equalled the record of 27 England Under-21 caps with his appearance, Italy pulled one back with a fortunate strike from Chiellini, the Italy skipper knowing very little about his finish when a corner ricocheted to him in the 35th minute.

Italy coach Casiraghi's decision to bring on more attacking options at the break paid off when Aquilani drilled in from 25 yards after Rosina had flicked the ball to him.

Both sides could have snatched a winner, with England skipper Nigel Reo-Coker and Young forcing saves, and Montolivo testing Carson with a 40-yard drive.