England kicked off their European Championship campaign with a disappointing defeat to Italy, in Lahti.

Having seen Casey Stoney sent off with more than an hour of the game to play, following an incident where there appeared to be very little contact with Italy's Melanie Gabbiadini, it was always going to be a difficult task for Hope Powell's team to come away with any kind of result against the Italians.

Fara Williams gave England the lead in spite of that setback, seven minutes before half-time, by slotting home a penalty, following a foul on Karen Carney, but goals from Patrizia Panico and Alessia Tuttino gave Italy the three points.

A 26th international goal for Williams, just before the interval, was a timely boost for Hope Powell's team.

At the break Kelly Smith replaced Eniola Aluko up front, as England sought to ensure a winning start to Euro 2009.

But even the highly rated Smith, despite flashes of brilliance, couldn't find a way through the stubborn Italian defence, and with ten against eleven England struggled to create chances to equalise.

Next up for England is Russia on Friday evening in Helsinki.

In the other match in Group C, Sweden dismissed Russia in a comfortable 3-0 victory.


Group C      Pld   W   D   L   PTS
Sweden         1      1    0    0     3
Italy              1      1    0    0     3
England         1      0    0    1     0
Russia           1      0    0    1     0