Borriello finds way to beat Platt's men

Italy Under-21 1 England Under-21

The England Under-21 coach David Platt saw his hopes of building solid foundations for next month's European Under-21 Championship qualifiers crumble in the marble capital of the world.

Despite a sound performance as Platt gave debuts to five players in the second half of the game at Stadio dei Marmi – Stadium of Marble – in the Tuscan town of Carrara, England were undone by a 75th minute header from the Empoli striker, Marco Borriello.

After Sven Goran Eriksson had raided his squad for tonight's full international with Australia, Platt was forced to name an inexperienced line-up but that did not show for the first hour as England comfortably held their own.

With Gareth Barry impressing on the left, their only weakness was that they failed to test the goalkeeper Marco Amelia at any stage. England's one meaningful chance arose in the 36th minute when Shola Ameobi's ball out wide to Bobby Zamora led to a superb far-post cross that Shaun Wright-Phillips blasted wastefully wide from six yards.

The home side quickly countered and Matt Murray was called upon in the England goal as he superbly denied Giuseppe Sculli from 12 yards before the former Chelsea player Sam dalla Bona spooned the rebound over an open goal.

Derby County's Lee Grant replaced Murray at half-time and as Italy got on top he did well to deflect a Giampiero Pinzi drive over the bar. However, Grant was eventually beaten 15 minutes from time when Borriello guided a Sculli cross into the bottom corner.

Italy Under-21 (4-4-2): Amelia; Bonera, Cannavaro, Moretti, Zaccardo (Ferri, h-t); Brighi, Dalla Bona (Zanetti, 76), Donati (D'Agostino, 55), Pinzi (Lavecchia, 68); Borriello, Sculli.

ENGLAND UNDER-21 (4-4-2): Murray (Wolves); Samuel (Aston Villa), Dawson (Nottingham Forest), Clarke (Everton), Taylor (Portsmouth); Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Prutton (Southampton), Carrick (West Ham), Barry (Aston Villa); Ameobi (Newcastle Utd), Zamora (Brighton & Hove Albion). Substitutes: Grant (Derby County) for Murray, h-t; Lescott (Wolves) for Samuel, 53; Nolan (Bolton Wanderers) for Wright-Phillips, 62; McEveley (Blackburn Rovers) for Taylor, 71; D Bent (Ipswich) for Zamora, 71; Ambrose (Ipswich) for Prutton, 80.

Referee: J Da Silva (Portugal).