Hodgson hails super-subs

England looked destined for defeat after a poor first-half performance, but Townsend scored a stunning 20-yard strike just nine minutes after his introduction from the bench.

Barkley also impressed in his role as a second-half substitute, driving at the Italy defence, which had looked impregnable during the first half.

"To say I was more happy with the second half than the first would be the understatement of the year," the England manager said.

"We fell well below the standards we've been setting and the whole game was very much a friendly atmosphere.

"But the second half was much closer to what we're trying to do and Ross and Andros can take a lot of credit for us injecting so much more tempo and pace into our game."