Goals from Myles Weston and Joe Garner secured the win for the Three Lions at Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium.

After the match Peacock spoke to TheFA.com: "I feel we can take quite a few positives out of the game.

"Obviously this was my first game in charge of this group of players, so in that respect it was good just to see them play.

"We learnt plenty of useful things and the most important aspect was to get some time together on the pitch. Plus, it is a nice bonus to beat Italy, who are one of Europe's leading nations."

England's two goals arrived late in the second half after something of an indifferent first period.

"I think in the first half we were a little erratic and didn't quite show enough composure when playing out from the back.

"We sometimes needed to play the ball quicker up the pitch, missing out the midfield and it took us the length of the first half to learn that.

"In the second period we were much better and I think we controlled the match really well and deserved the win.

"Our defending was especially pleasing against a very good attack. The one negative aspect was the penalty we gave away in the last minute but we will look at that on the video tonight and work out what went wrong."

A number of the players involved last night were also part of the Under-17 side that did so well in the Nordic Tournament a few weeks ago.

Though that tournament gave some players valuable international experience, this is a youthful England side with plenty of potential.

"This is a young team and we have a few players playing in an age group which is a year above them.

"Even though we gave away quite a bit of physical presence we put in more effort and had the better teamwork.

"All our efforts our directed at next year's European Championship, first of all the qualifiers in March and then the finals a few months later.

"I will be looking at all the eighteen players in the squad this week because it is very important that all the players have an equal chance to perform."