England secured their second win in the Arnold Clark Cup with a 2-1 triumph over Italy on Sunday afternoon in front of 32,128 fans - a record crowd at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Rachel Daly proved too much for the Italian back four who wanted more time to deal with the ball but the Aston Villa star didn’t give an inch and capitalised to give England the lead, just after the half-hour mark.
A perfectly timed cross from Katie Robinson on the right was met with Daly’s head to break the stalemate in the 32nd minute and then hit the woodwork with another opportunity minutes later.
Italy equalised just beyond the hour mark when the ball seemed to be out of play and got pulled back in, the ball spun from Sofia Cantore and lobbed Ellie Roebuck. But Daly put England back in front, nodding the ball low into the bottom left corner after a curling cross from Lauren James from the right with 20 minutes left on the clock.
England dominated Italy regardless of their relentlessly energetic press although the visitors offered a much more physical challenge than previous rivals Korea Republic even though there were nine changes in Sarina Wiegman’s starting XI.
Lauren Hemp had countless tussles with Italian defenders and was even pulled by the neck of her shirt but was unfortunate not to be awarded a foul. Jordan Nobbs was also unlucky not to find the back of the net with her edge-of-the-box thunderous strike tipped away by goalkeeper Laura Giuliani.
The speed and fancy footwork of Katie Robinson and Hemp down the attacking flanks smothered the Italian's back line, and swapped sides every couple of minutes, while Alex Greenwood and Keira Walsh dealt with any attacking threat.
Valentina Giacinti gave Italy their only real chance in the first half but put it wide and then tried a one-on-one foot race with Greenwood to no avail. Perceived threat Manuela Giugliano tried to intercept momentum but ended up ball-chasing one-touch passes between Walsh, Hemp and Niamh Charles instead.
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